Stolen Hero
by pa0lini
Summary: Iwa kidnaps Gaara and Naruto at their birth and raise them as their own. They grow up without knowing who they are, only what they contain. Using the first chance they get, they run. In Konoha, Danzo rules mercilessly. Itachi plots a rebellion, only to flee when Sasuke's life is threatened. What will happen when they meet? Response to Hektols Stolen Hero challenge.
1. Ch 1: Birth Of A Hero

Hey Everyone! If you've all been wondering wtf ive been up to, this is it! this is my new story based off of a challenge given out by Hektols. So if you wanna know a better summary of what its about feel free to check out his profile. If any of you are avid Heart of a Ninja fans, don't worry im still in the process of writing the next chapter and it should be up in the next few days ^^ hope you all enjoy!

Pa0lini

* * *

Broken, bloodied bodies littered the devastated streets as silence reigned supreme throughout the village, pierced only by broken screams of anguish and pain as many discovered loved ones among the ruins of the once proud Hidden Leaf Village. Fires still raged throughout parts of the once prosperous nation, the civilians being the ones left to put it out as their military strength was all but diminished, destroyed by a demon that should belong only in nightmares. The date is October 10th. The death of one hero and the birth of another, although not everyone saw it that way...

"The demon should be executed now that it is helpless!" demanded Fugaku Uchiha, head of the Uchiha clan. His Sharingan was blazing, tomoes swirling in reaction to his anger. Opposite him sat Hiashi Hyuuga who glared at him, his pupil-less eyes would have made liquid nitrogen jealous to how cold it was. Uchiha was unfazed though, and continued to rant until he was interrupted by another ninja named Jiraiya.

"He is a hero! If it wasn't for the child we all would be in our graves by now!" he spat angrily. "Minato sacrificed himself and his son's freedom for the village, his only wish that his son be viewed as a hero, not as the demon he contains! He holds the beast back!"

"It doesn't change the fact that the demon resides in him!" yelled the head of the Haruno clan. "It could take over at any moment and destroy us all! He's a monster and should be executed!" she screeched. Everyone in the room started yelling their opinion on the matter, each trying to be heard above the rest, only two were silent. One looked old and frail, but his eyes were calculating and compassionate. The other stood just behind the old man, but blended in completely with the shadows. The only thing giving away his presence was his wild, bright blonde hair and beard and his deep blue eyes that glared at the entire room in undisguised hatred and disgust. His hands were clenched into fists so tight that his nails had begun to draw blood, anger radiated off him in steady waves. The only one to notice this however was the other silent man in front him, who frowned when he felt the growing killing intent. Sighing slightly, he took up his old role as leader of the village.

"ENOUGH!" the Third Hokage yelled, authority ringing in his voice. All members in the room grew silent as they looked towards the old man. Danzo scoffed at him,

"You no longer run this village Sarutobi, you have no more authority than the rest of us," his voice held contempt for the retired Hokage. The man behind the third could not hold in his anger anymore.

"He has more authority than you EVER had, Danzo! You are a mere council member and he is the Third Hokage!" He growled out. There were some nods and murmurs of agreement, but they didn't drown out what Danzo muttered under his breath.

"Retired..." The blonde man glared at him, his short fuse finally gone.

"Retired or not, he IS the Third Hokage and you WILL show him the respect he deserves!" the man exploded. "Him and my nephew! It is not your decision, or this council's for that matter, to decide if he lives or dies! It was my brother, the fucking _Fourth Hokage's _wish that his son was seen as a hero, it was his choice to do this and as leader of this village, that was his last decree and you WILL respect it or so help me you will die wishing that you did." The room was silent as he finished his threat, every word ringing with malice. Danzo just glared at the man and was about to speak but the Third held up a hand to stop him.

"Thank you for your input Kabuto. Because you are Minato's older brother however, your input is biased and cannot carry much weight in this discussion. Your points will be viewed however and rest assured, your brother's final wish will be carried out." The Sandaime said in his most placating and diplomatic voice. Kabuto just growled before moving back into the shadows, where he could watch the rest of the meeting.

'_Biased or not, no one is going to hurt him. I will tear this village to the ground, Minato's treasure be damned, before they so much as touch him_.' He thought darkly as he spied the Haruno woman smirking evilly.

"I say we kill him and live the rest of our lives in peace," voted Haruno.

"I second that," Uchiha stated, glaring at anyone who he thought would oppose.

"I say we honour the Fourth's final wish and allow him to grow up under his mother's care." A voice interrupted. All heads turned towards the door where a busty young blonde stood. Her hunched shoulders and drawn face told of how weary she was, but her eyes held triumph. Jiraiya ran towards the woman and caught her as she sagged down the doorframe, unable to support herself anymore.

"Tsunade! Are you ok? What about Kushina?" he demanded of the blonde. Tsunade smiled weakly at her old team-mate.

"I'm fine, just suffering the effects of chakra depletion. Kushina is stable and will be fit to care for the child soon." At this she turned her gaze towards the council members. "Since the mother of the child is still alive, it is not our decision as to what happens to him, but hers. You have no right to touch the child because of what he possesses, if that were true, every kekkai genkai would be forfeit." She growled resentment clear in her voice. "If there is _any _action against her, you can expect me to never to return to this village. You should also keep in mind that Kushina is the princess of Whirlpool country, and so her son is a prince. If you wish to take any action against him, I suggest you prepare for war." With that said she shakily stood up, bowed, and hobbled out of the room in search of some much needed sake and a bed.

At her departure; voices broke out from all over the room. Danzo stared coldly at the wall as if it had just taken his morning muffin. Kushina remaining alive was an unseen flaw in his plans. He needed the brat under his control or gone if he wanted to restore the village to its former glory, before the soft hearted teachings of the Third started to destroy it.

Uchiha Fugaku was livid. The woman was alive? She was meant to die from her pregnancy! He made sure there was no one able to respond to any emergency call, that was why the Kyuubi attacked! Tsunade. That woman was not meant to be in the village. He made sure she hated it after sending that Dan boy on that suicide mission years ago. Why was she here? The Namikaze family was meant to be destroyed so his family could take their rightful place as head of this village. Madara would not be impressed when he was informed of this new discovery.

Haruno wasn't swayed by the threat of war at all. "The beast needs to die! As long as he lives the Kyuubi might come back! I would rather certain safety, then uncertain protection from a baby! A baby! How will he be able to hold back the monster when none of our finest shinobi could! The monster could even be in control as we speak! We need to kill it! Now!"

Sarutobi was incredulous. These people were so concerned about their own powerbase; they did not spare a thought to the wellbeing of the village or what it might cost them for their petty wants to be met. He was aware of strong killing intent being leaked into the room, but this time multiple sources. The people from the Aburame, Inuzuka and Hyuuga clans were staring daggers at the elders, Uchiha and Haruno clans. Their killing intent was subtle though, only years of experience gave the Third the skill to detect it, no; the sources that were threatening to suffocate the entire room were both coming from behind him. Kabuto and Jiraiya had been able to hold onto their anger, barely. Kabuto's hand was gripping his body length sword so hard his knuckles had turned white and Jiraiya's hair looked like he had been struck by a lightning jutsu, it bristled so fiercely. Growing tired of the bickering, he made his decision.

"ENOUGH!" he yelled for the second time that night. "Haruno, you need to realise that by having any action taken against the child, you would start a war with one of the most feared shinobi villages, a war we couldn't win with our current resources and military strength, as well as turning many strong shinobi against us!"

Haruno snorted. "Tsunade? She is one ninja, we have plenty others that can replace her and Kabuto hardly ever does missions or anything to support the village, he will be easily replaced."

"You think they can be easily replaced? You think that is all who would abandon us when you murder a _baby?_ Tsunade is the grand-daughter of the First Hokage, one of the legendary Sannin as well as being acknowledged as the best kunoichi and healer in ALL nations. Kabuto doesn't do missions because he gathers intelligence. He has spy networks in EVERY shinobi village and EVERY royal court in EVERY nation! Deeper than Root has ever gone! Yes Danzo I know you haven't dissolved Root, but that is for a later topic. Kabuto destroyed three of the fox's nine tails tonight, which is a third of the fox's power, single-handed! Do you really want a man who can defeat a third of that kind of power against us?" His voice has risen and was now shouting at the woman, who had gone white. "But that's not all! Jiraiya is the boy's godfather! Do you really think he'd sit by and watch his own godson die? And he trained the Fourth! He would turn his back to you as well! Plus all the clans that are loyal to the Namikaze! There are too many to name, but just look across the table, you stupid woman. And tell me if those people wouldn't hesitate to stop you from destroying the only heir to one of the greatest clans in this village? Next time you need to put your opinion in, THINK BEFORE YOU OPEN YOUR MOUTH!"

He was on his feet and his chakra was flaring around his wildly. It was a powerful reminder as to why he was the leader of a shinobi village, a village of trained assassins and warriors. He was able to see all the consequences of his actions as well as the rewards. He thought about other's reactions to his declarations, the ones that would help as well as hinder him. It was why he even had a council, so the civilians felt like they had a say in political matters and he avoided a civil war. But in reality, it was a military hierarchy. The Hokage was at the top; strongest ninja in the village, then the jounin; elite ninja, the chuunin; average ninja, gennin; ninja in training and under all of that were the civilians and academy students. A gennin held more power than a civilian council member, but he didn't let them know that or they would revolt. Breathing deeply, he continued in a calmer tone.

"You all seem to forget that I AM Hokage, retired or not, I am the highest authority here until I choose a new successor or lay dead, and then and only then the council will choose. But until then I will have the final say in ALL matters." He glared at the room until he was sure they all got the message. Those loyal to the Namikaze were quick to submit, whilst the others took a little longer, Uchiha, Haruno and Durzo the main conspirators. "Now, I know what a threat the boy is to the village," Kabuto let out a strangled protest, Sarutobi held up a hand, "but I will not condemn an infant to death. It is not his fault for what he is or the conditions of his birth so he will not be punished for it. Instead he will leave with his mother to the Land Of Whirlpools. There he will grow-up with his mother and her clan, the Uzumakis'. When he comes of age and the demon hasn't taken over or been released in some shape or form, he will return to Leaf where he will take the gennin exam and become a ninja for his father's village. That way there is no risk to the village if the demon posses him, and we will have a powerful ally and bloodline if he returns. That is my decision." Saying no more Sarutobi stood and left the room swiftly, heading to the hospital to tell Kushina the news.

The room was deadly silent as both sides glared at each other. Neither was happy with the decision, but it was a compromise and they would have to be happy with it. Chairs scraped as the civilians stood to leave the room whilst the ninja left in more subtle ways. Kabuto cursed before vanishing completely, Jiraiya not far behind him. As the room slowly emptied, no one seemed to notice three lumps of shadow detach themselves from the corners of the room before disappearing as well.

...

The night air was cool and calm, but thick with anticipation and the electric feel of tension. Leaves rustled and crushed under the feet of the men shifting restlessly, hidden within the foliage by the side of the road. They were waiting, waiting, waiting, for a group of people to come along. Not waiting for just any people, just as they weren't just any men. No, they were waiting for the remainder of the Namikaze clan, for they were assassins. The elite of elite ninja, sent by their Lord Tsuchikage to eliminate their greatest enemy. They needed to strike now, when he was at his weakest. To be a successful assassin you had to attack the greatest opportunity, so they had waited and they had watched. Every war meeting and strategy planning conversation was recorded. The target was trailed and his strongest allies watched. Every patrol route taken note of as well as every shift change.

The leader of the assassin group heard the restlessness of his men and silenced them with a glare. They instantly stilled. He was not in charge of a highly skilled, deadly group of assassins for nothing. He would not hesitate to kill anything or anyone that threatened their mission objective. This mission was the most important mission to ever come out of Iwa. Upon hearing that the enemy of their beloved village, the merciless murderer, Minato Namikaze, was to have an heir, with the princess of Whirlpool country no less, they immediately took action. Any information about the soon to be family was a closely guarded secret in the Fire country and Iwa was hard pressed to discover any intelligence at all. But they discovered a surprisingly reliable source in the village. Namikaze could not be allowed to spawn any heirs that would eventually become a threat to their home. So the order went out, kill Namikaze and his heir and anyone who gets in the way. But things had changed drastically. The night where they were to carry out their mission, everything changed. The war changed it all.

Konoha was without a doubt the strongest of the five shinobi nations. After that night, that title would be in serious doubt. Namikaze was dead. Life sacrificed to protect son, wife and village against the mythical beast, Kyuubi. Kyuubi, according to legend, was the strongest of all the Biju. The battle had destroyed nearly all of Konoha's military strength, with the fox massacring all who stood before it, whether it be man, woman or child. Ninja or civilian. It did not discriminate, it slaughtered them all. If he wasn't who he was, the assassin leader would have been impressed at the loyalty and dedication Namikaze had shown toward his village and family. But he was, so he wasn't.

As well as all of the power the child inherited from his parents, he was also bestowed the power of the Kyuubi. Finding no way of defeating it, Namikaze had sealed it into his own child, sealing the beast's fate. Kyuubi would never wreck havoc upon any village ever again, as long as his child lived. But this action had major consequences. Konoha had signed their own death warrant. The sealing jutsu which the Fourth used also took his life as payment. The Fourth Hokage, The Yellow Flash of Konoha, was dead. The loss of their leader was a devastating blow, and now, in the middle of all the political turmoil, their one shining hope left was now the target of a team of assassins.

The leader's face was a mask of ice, but on the inside, he was uncomfortable. He was a killer, plain and simple. He had no qualms about his life. He was good at what he did and he enjoyed it, it was why he made such an effective assassin. The feel of his blade slicing into the flesh of the unsuspecting victim gave him a feeling of ecstasy that rivalled that of sex. But his original mission objective had changed. At first he was meant to kill Namikaze and his brat. Now with Namikaze dead, the Tsuchikage had come up with a plan. A plan that would make Iwa the epitome of the shinobi nations. Now the teams orders were to... not... kill the boy. They were to take him. Spirit him away to Iwa where he would be trained to hate his father and village and become one of Iwa's strongest weapons. Already the Tsuchikage had sent out others, searching for more like the boy. They already have two that were born in Iwa and there were rumours about Suna planning on making some sort of human weapon with the Kazekage's own son. Another squad was already heading out to see if the rumours were true and if they were, to relieve Suna of the child and take it back home to Iwa

The plan was a stroke of brilliance, it's just the leader didn't know how to... not kill. Usually he goes, someone dies, and he gets paid. Simple. Now he had to take the kid, as well as things the child might need for the trip back to Iwa. He was no nurse maid. Cursing Namikaze for dying and ruining his mission, he waited for dawn to break, signalling the commencement of his mission. And so he waited

And waited

And waited

Dawn approached, tinging the sky red as the first rays of the sun started to peak over the trees of the forest. Birds started to sing, welcoming the new day. Looking to the west, along the road they had staked out, he was able to make out the image of a carriage coming down the old road.

The carriage rolled silently along the road, its wheels had been greased and oiled repeatedly to ensure the most silent journey it could, for its cargo was the most precious and priceless thing in the village. There was an escort of guards from the various clans that supported the recently widowed Kushina Namikaze and her son. Many in the village wished for the boy to be executed, for he held a monster, but their efforts were stymied however when Princess Tsunade reminded them that Kushina was a princess of the Whirlpool country and her son a prince, any action against him would result in war between their countries, as well as the alienation of herself and Lord Jiraiya. Whirlpool was small, but its ninja were fierce and highly skilled, with many kekkai genkai that were greatly coveted by others. War would destroy the already weakened Konoha village.

The guards were alert and some even already supported wounds from previous attempts at ending the baby's life. The most opposed were the Uchihas, and their attacks had been the most ferocious. The Uchihas believed themselves to be the best of the best, and Namikaze and his heir were a threat to that title.

The assassin leader happened to know that the Uchiha main branch had just birthed a son around the same time that the Namikaze heir was born, and was being groomed into being the boy's rival. If their previous son, Itaichi, was anything to judge by, this child would be powerful indeed. It was curious however, Kushina and Mikoto, the clan head's wife, were the best of friends. He had happened to come across them meeting in secret and planning their boy's future together, apparently they were in the same gennin squad and had remained in contact with each other ever since. The leader was sure Fugaku, Mikoto's husband, knew nothing of this otherwise he would have demanded she end the contact or found some way to exploit it and use it to his advantage.

The carriage rolled silently passed him. Using a critical eye, he examined the guards posted to protect the small family. He counted twelve, from the way they were stationed, they must be subdivided into groups of three to more effectively cut down any attackers. As he continued to examine them he noticed that each team came from a different clan. He noticed the clan symbols for Inuzuka, Nara, Hyuuga and... Sarutobi? The ex-Hokage's own clan was protecting this child? This was an unforseen complication. The clans that were assembled were also going to be difficult. Hyuuga to see for any danger, Inuzuka to smell. Nara had a giant shadow around the carriage so if anyone got to close they were trapped. And Sarutobi had enormous fighting strength, being one of the very few clans blessed with wind chakra.

Knowing the Hyuuga would be able to spot their chakra systems, it was useless to continue hiding and suppressing their chakra. Raising his hand, his team moved in.

...

Kushina was exhausted. Mentally, physically and emotionally. The overwhelming joy of having a child with Minato that had turned into crushing despair as she watched her love sacrifice himself for their little boy had drained. Going to opposite extremes of her emotional range had drained her. The sound of happy gurgling turned her attention to the baby boy held close to her chest. Bright blue eyes shone back at her and a tuft of blonde hair poked out of the blanket that covered him. His chubby hands were playing with a strand of her fiery red hair; equally chubby cheeks were stretched into a large smile. Six scars decorated his cheeks, three for each one, in such a way they imitated whiskers. A reminder of what he held within him. Tears came unbidden to her eyes and she clutched her child close to her. Gods, how she missed Minato, He should be here with them! He should of thought of a different way to save the village! Now their son would grow up, only knowing his father through pictures and stories. Reaching into her shirt, she grasped the small golden locket that rested against her breast. Lifting it over her head, she opened it and started longingly at the picture inside; her heart broke a little more.

Reaching through her anguish, she placed the chain which held the locket around her son's neck. Distracted by the shiny new object, the child let go of his mother's hair and began to play with the new toy. Laughing through the tears that had begun to pool in her eyes, Kushina removed the precious object from the infant's mouth. Murmuring a jutsu under her breath, the locket glowed and disappeared. It used to be Minato's, but somehow she felt that it belonged to him now. Annoyed at losing the shiny locket, the boy pouted cutely before contenting himself by suckling on his thumb. Kushina caught herself smiling at the boy's cuteness, for some reason it was impossible to remain in her misery around her child. He had this spark in his eyes that made her smile.

Suddenly the boy stilled. Mouth, no longer sucking his thumb, opened and emitted an ear-piercing shriek. Kushina immediately looked for the source of the problem. It made itself known however, when a body crashed into the side of the carriage, knocking Kushina and the child to the floor. Clutching her baby to her chest she opened the opposite door and rushed outside, just in time to avoid the overturning of their transport. She took in the surroundings with wide eyes. Ninjas dressed completely in black with no hitai-ate to announce their allegiance had surrounded them and were attempting to kill her guards. Kunai and shuriken rained out of the forest whilst jutsus flew through the air in a mad storm of chakra. The Nara's had captured a group of them in their shadows and the Sarutobi's were destroying them ruthlessly. The Inuzuka's had disappeared into the forest and where the shuriken and kunai flew from, a body soon followed and the barrage would stop. Immediately when Kushina got to her feet, she was surrounded by the Hyuugas. Their Byakugan giving her the perfect defence from the onslaught of jutsu.

Frowning at her helplessness, she clutched her child with one hand and made a sign with her other. Yelling out a battle-cry that would frighten even the most fearless warriors, chains made completely out of chakra flew from her body and struck the nearest enemies. Focusing on her chakra control, she didn't notice one of the assassins take out the Hyuuga behind her and creep up upon her. She didn't notice until her baby was torn from her arms and a kunai firmly lodged into her back. Screaming in pain, she fell to her knees as her guards rushed to her aid at the sound of her voice. But it was too late. The assassin had already gone, leaving his comrades to die at the anger filled Leaf nin. Kushina just stared at her arms, where seconds ago held the most precious thing left to her in this world Her child, Minato's child, hope of the Leaf Village... gone. Throwing her head back she screamed into the night, her voice filled endless despair and agony.

"NARUTO!"


	2. Ch 2: Life Of A Hero

_Thirteen Years later_

_Konoha_

"Not good enough!" a rough voice bellowed as he was thrown to the floor yet again. A new bruise forming on his elbow, joining the others that painted his body in a unique combination of purples, blacks and yellows. His porcelain skin was drenched in sweat as he got up once again to face his opponent. Not hesitating, his attacker struck again. "Your moves are slower! Why are you not protecting your right?" the voice came again, along with a heavy blow to his side, knocking him down again to the now familiar floor. If he focused properly he could see where his blood had splattered the ground and name exactly what type of attack that had drawn the red liquid from him.

"Father, perhaps we should finish for today? Surely he has worked hard enough," a smooth baritone broke through the dojo where he was training. His elder brother stood in the doorway, barely masking his anger. But if was at him for not being strong enough or their fathers method of training he wasn't sure. Self-loathing weighed down in his stomach as heavy as if he had swallowed an anvil.

Their father snorted in poorly disguised disgust at his youngest son. "You do not deserve the name Uchiha," he spat before turning on his heel and walking out the dojo, ignoring his eldest who had started to move forward to the lone boy in the center of the room.

"Are you alright, otouto?" his elder brother asked, gently grasping his arm so he could pull him up and examine his elbow and side. Snatching his arm out of his brother's grasp, inwardly wincing at the pain that shot up his arm at the rough action.

"I'm fine Itachi. I just need to practice more. What did you come here for?" the younger sibling deadpanned, not wanting to dwell on his failure. Itachi sighed, partly in frustration against their father and partly in exasperation. He knew he was still taking passing the exam rough but his otouto wasn't one to just lie down and roll over, he could see the determination burning in his eyes right now. If Itachi didn't keep an eye on him,he would probably be training until the sun rose again, missing dinner and breakfast, just to prove to that man that he was strong. Before succumbing to the psychological torture that was the academy.

'You're strong enough already' Itachi thought with pride at his brother. He was top of his gennin class and had just passed the graduation exam as top rookie. Not an easy feat these days. Smiling in a way that would probably have their father lecturing about weakness, Itachi decided to help his brother with his training before dinner.

"Would you like me to help you with your taijutsu, little brother?" he asked charmingly. The younger brother's eyes widened. If Itachi helped him, he was guaranteed to improve! Itachi was only eighteen, but he was already an Anbu captain! He graduated the academy when he was seven, that was six years less than him. And when he was his age was when he became an Anbu captain. Remembering that little fact made him taste that bitter feeling of self-loathing again. He was thirteen already and he had only just graduated if albeit grudgingly. He had a long way to go if he wanted to catch up to his aniki. Feeling useless standing there and pitying himself, he immediately ran out the door yelling at his brother.

"Hurry up aniki! We only have a few hours till dinner!" chuckling at his otouto's antics, Itachi followed at a more leisurely pace.

"Yes, Sasuke."

...

Life was bleak in the Hidden Leaf village, well that was what Sasuke Uchiha thought anyway. If it wasn't for his group and Itachi, it would probably be unbearable. He had finished training with Itachi, sat down at the uncomfortable, regular evening event that was dubbed family dinner and was now wandering the streets, loathe to go back to the place he called a home. Things had changed drastically since the Third had stepped down from power thirteen years ago, and the leader of the Anbu division 'Root', Danzo, had been named Godaime Hokage by the council. The ideals that the First and Second created the village with were all but forgotten. The new Hokage valued power above all else. Meaningless bonds and attachments such as love and friendship had no place in the newly reformed village.

Sasuke thought that being named Rookie of the Year would make his father look at him with pride instead of shame and disgust. It seems that if he wasn't as good as Itachi, he was nothing to him. Strength was what was valued in the Uchiha house, and now all of Konoha, and he wasn't strong enough it seems.

Konoha was one of the strongest villages, without a doubt, all but Iwa bowed to them in might. Danzo's methods were strict and cruel, but they were effective. Hundreds of missions poured in daily from other countries, wanting Konoha's ruthless nin to do their dirty work for them. The economy had never been better. But with every great empire, there were those who did not agree with it.

The ninja clans of Konoha held great power. They could trace their ancestory all the way back to before the villages were founded and the ninja clans roamed the land separately, selling their skills as a whole. As such they were the ones that chose to let the Senju clan lead them and create the prosperous and peace loving Leaf Village. Now, with the new leadership, they were seriously beginning to question their allegiance.

Inuzuka, Aburame, Nara, Yamanaka, Akamichi, Hyuuga, and a few lesser known clans were the strongest opposition. Their family ties were strong and were greatly acknowledged as the source of their strength, in particular the Inuzuka who were extremely loyal as their canine partners taught them. In any way they could, they attempted to undermine the new Hokage's authority; doing missions haphazardly and achieving the bare minimum, excusing themselves from doing the supportive D-rank missions and other any other annoyances they could think of.

The Nara, Akamichi and Yamanaka clans were especially resentful. They had a long history working together and having impeccable teamwork, all the way back to the first clan heads. Now they were in the fifteenth generation, and all their morals and ideals were being threatened. The past thirteen years had been difficult for them. Raising their children had been difficult, teaching them to value their companions whilst the academy taught them to achieve their goal at all costs, including risking your teammates lives.

Sasuke sighed again, graduating the Adacemy was a bigger feat than it was before the Godaime came into power. Before you sat a test run by chuunin, did a justu and bam! You were chosen as a gennin just not in active duty, hitai-ate and everything. A survival test later conducted by a jounin and you became a full-fledged Gennin ninja of the village. Now, barely anyone passed.

The previous system allowed for those who did not have the stomach to be ninja to drop out. Once you achieved gennin, you had on average a year or so to adapt to missions, usually D rank and occasionally a C rank. This allowed them to come to terms with the hard work and occasionally death whilst still being watched and guarded by a jounin. Then the chuunin exams would pit them in combat and those who did not want to go on anymore were able to drop out safely and find other paths of employment. Once you were a chuunin, it was all C and B- rank missions. The main brunt of the village's mission load. Then only the best of the chuunin applied to go jounin, the elite. Jounin took only B, A and even S-rank missions, the dangerous missions that only the best could ever hope to accomplish. And if they wanted to go further, they could apply for ANBU, the black ops, Who only dealt in S and SS rank missions, doing covert operations to secure the villages safety.

The standards now though had been raised, and raised high. To even be considered to take the exam, your test paper score, which evaluated your ability to strategize as well as name various laws and shinobi rules highlighting the new regime, had to be passed with a score of eighty percent or higher. Then you had to perform the basic three jutsus: henge (transformation), kawarimi (substitution) and bunshin (clone), But you had to utilize them to retrieve a scroll being guarded by one of the chuunin proctors. Getting to the scroll wasn't enough, you had to leave the room with the scroll regardless of chuunins were only permitted to use taijutsu and weapons, but were allowed to use them with lethal force. This was to make sure they knew that becoming a ninja wasn't a easy, dream job, but one that was kill or be killed. There was no friends and their was no mercy.

Needless to say the new survival test that awaited the gennin hopefuls who passed the written exam,had been revised by the new council, personally selected by the Hokage himself. Instead of a test that tested a gennin's knowledge about reading underneath the underneath and promoting the values of friendship and teamwork, it was a bloody free for all. In other words, the survival test had drop the test part, it was now just survival. The jounin was assigned their squads of three and took them to one of the ninety-three different training grounds of their choice. There, the gennin were pitted against each other in fights to the death, using all their skill and tactics to take down the competition. The one left standing was to become a gennin. But you had to survive and stay conscious enough for the jounin sensei to come back and retrieve you, for you were locked into the training ground for three days with nothing but your survival kit and what you manage to scavenge off your dead ex-classmates. If you were unconscious from hunger, thirst or exhaustion when the jounin sensei came back, you were dead as well. No weakness, that was the new mantra in the Leaf village.

The purpose of the survival test was to rid them of their hesitation to kill on the field. No matter the type of person, the first kill is always remembered whether it be seasoned ninja or lowly farmer to little orphan child. Once they were numbed to the horror of murdering your fellow classmates, you were then and only then able to call yourself a gennin, a shinobi in training of the Hidden Leaf village.

Since the values of teamwork were all but shot, it didn't matter if multiples of three were promoted, such as the previous curriculum stated. As each time they took a mission, it was with new comrades. Another method created to further destroy the previous Kage's efforts at creating a happy, peaceful village. The gennin was granted a jounin sensei who would personally train them one on one, this allowed their skills to improve exponentially. Gennins were then put into teams without their sensei and sent on missions. usually C and B rank. D rank missions were handled by the academy students now. The Hokage claimed it to be preparing them early, despite the many seeing it as free, child labor.

Six years ago only one gennin passed, and then there were no more graduates until one year ago when only three managed to survi-... pass... This year though, there were seven people who passed. Seven was unheard of when it came to the exam. It was the most amount of people to graduate at one time since the new exam had been put into place. With the three that had graduated the year before, it encouraged the pupils to go for the exam in overwhelming numbers, allowing such a large number of passing students. Unsurprisingly though, the graduates had all come from the powerful and well known clans, with only one of them being from a clan with unshakable faith in the new system, Uchiha.

Sasuke remembered when he killed the unfortunate boy that had been pitted against him. He could still hear the tortured screams as he was roasted alive, he could still smell the aroma of cooking human flesh as the fire devoured him hungrily, he could still see the boy as the skin on his body slowly blistered and peeled away under the merciless flames, only for the soft tissue underneath to be burnt black and his bones reduced to ash. It had been the single most horrifying thing he had ever seen. He didn't mean to kill the boy, no he had to stop thinking of him as 'the boy'. He had had a name, and a family, and most likely, secret friends, and he had killed him. His name was Gin Taisho, from a small but profitable merchant family in the east district.

Gin had lept out from concealing his chakra behind him, kunai held ready to attack. Sasuke only knew he was there due to the horrified gasp of their female adversary, still hiding in the bushes. Turning sharply he had performed his clans most basic katon jutsu, and the boy didn't have the skill to dodge or dissipate it. So he fell to the ground writhing in pain as the flames ate through his body. And Sasuke had stood there and watched, unable to tear his eyes away from the slowly dying boy, that he had condemned to die.

A choked and gurgling gasp was what drew his attention back to the other opponent he had. Ignoring the silent tears trekking down his face, he came face to face with a masked figure. Sasuke quickly recognized the outfit as one of the Root Anbu, loyal only to Danzo. But that was not what caught his attention. At the Root's feet was the girl hiding in the bushes, throat slit and eyes staring lifelessly. Whites still visible in her eyes from the look of horror at seeing a boy being burnt alive. Blood dripped steadily from the short tanto blade in the Anbu's hand, the only sound in the suddenly quiet training ground. The Anbu stared at the boy in front of him, unmoving in his stance.

drip drip drip drip drip drip drip

"Why?" he had whispered, unable to take the sound of blood dripping from the sword to the ground, already soaked by the life sustaining liquid. The Anbu didn't move but a voice floated from behind the mask, as cold and as unforgiving as the harshest of winters.

"You are Sasuke Uchiha, youngest son to the head of the Uchiha clan. A bargain has been made with the Hokage and I have orders to ensure your survival during this exam." The words struck deep inside his soul, his father would have been the one, wanting to ensure the name of Uchiha wasn't tarnished by his weakness. The corruption of the Hokage was undeniable, favoring those within his council, for Uchiha was very much a prominent figure in the Hokage's council, and ensuring they are kept content. Even if it means breaking the laws he himself had lain.

Before he could move or utter a sound, a dull thunk was heard along with a pain in the back of his neck and Sasuke fell into unconsciousness. When he awoke it was to the Anbu nudging him awake, having stayed in the grounds and keeping his vigil. Then the Root agent was gone and his jounin sensei was walking through the trees to discover if any of his prospective students were still alive.

Trying to rid his head of dark thoughts, Sasuke pushed through the third bush from the right, in front of the second fence that ran from the gap of the corner of the ally that lead to the market street that went past his district. Coming to the fifth plank, from the divide that met the edge of the bush he had pushed through, he made the appropriate hand-signs and channeled chakra into the normal looking fence. A seal lit up brightly, to complex for Sasuke to understand, before vanishing into the wood. A creaking sound announced the opening revealing itself a little to his left. Sasuke ducked through the secret passage entrance and it closed with a smart snap behind him. Walking down a flight of stairs, that was not visible from the outside due to an incredibly strong genjutsu being placed over it, Sasuke emerged into a well lit chamber which held eleven people. Six of them his age, three of them a year older, one of them he saw not twenty minutes ago and the other was dressed in shadows and had unruly blonde hair. The blonde looked up when Sasuke entered and smirked.

"Great, every ones here. Now, time to plan a revolution."

* * *

_Iwa_

A loud bang made a blonde head of hair raise itself weakly off the floor. The door to his room a been kicked open and in the doorway stood a dark silhouette. Letting his head drop, the blonde remained on the floor of his 'room'. It wasn't even a room, but it was the closest thing he had to one. Cold, hard bricks made up three of the walls and sturdy, impenetrable bars made up the other wall. The door was thick steel and the only entrance in or out his little cell. A kick in his side made his attention go back to the dark silhouette. It was rather small in statue but authority and power was clear in the way he held himself. The blonde snorted.

"To what to I owe the pleasure, old man?" he asked, not bothering to hide his disdain for the man. The man came forward and the little light that came through from the end of the hall outside his 'room' illuminated his features for a brief moment before they were hidden again as the man moved closer to the blonde. A large bulbous nose was the first feature that drew attention. Little eyes that were kept under eyebrows that seemed to be in a constant frown and tanned but wrinkly old skin. The frown got more pronounced at the disrespect the boy showed.

"I see your conditioning hasn't been effective enough, I must schedule you for another three sessions a week." the old man watch in pleasure at the visible flinch of the blonde boy.

"What do you want?" the blonde sighed, already resigned to his fate. The old man smirked.

"That's Lord Tsuchikage to you, and I have a mission for you and One." The blonde raised his head higher, interested since he would be working with One. One was his closest friend. They were trained and conditioned together, though since it became apparent that the conditioning wasn't working on him, they were separated and only met when they were sent out into the world to do the Tsuchikage's bidding.

"Nine! Pay attention!" the voice of his keeper broke through. Nine, it was his name and Identity. A number was all they knew as to who they were. Nine leveled a stare at the leader of the Hidden Rock village. The man seeing as he had gotten the boy's attention continued with the briefing.

"A scroll has been taken from out vaults. It is of utmost importance that it is returned with all due haste. There is a seal on it to prevent others from reading it, but that will only deter them for so long. If any outsider comes to read the knowledge stored within this scroll, Iwa's political position will be weakened immensely and most probably begin the next Great Ninja War,"

Nine listened with rapt attention. This was big. This was really big. But something yelled at him to go with caution. As he thought it through his eyes narrowed.

"We're the last resort aren't we? You would have sent your best and most loyal to retrieve this scroll immediately, and since they've obviously failed you would of then sent a bulk of ninja to try and overwhelm them with sheer numbers. Now you have no choice but to rely on us, your secret powerhouses." His suspicions were confirmed as the Tsuchikage's posture stiffened. Nine smirked in victory.

They never did retrieval missions or any mission that had something to do with the political on-goings of Iwa for that matter. They were the assassins that crept in and slaughtered whoever the old man pointed them to. They were the ones they sent when a subterfuge team from a rival village came to spy. They never left anyone alive, but did enough collateral damage to tell the village who sent them to back off. It was why Iwa was tied as the number one strongest village out of the great five.

Of course there were reasons why they were never allowed to touch anything that could potentially harm Iwa. It was because they hated it here. They were prisoners. Each time one of them did something that was not approved of, they were punished. Burned into their very skin, a seal was placed in the back of their necks, shaped into two rocks, the symbol of Iwa. When they disobeyed, try to retaliate or even escape, the seal would activate.

Words could not described the pain the seal evoked, it was like your blood boiled within your veins whilst white hot needles jabbed at every pore on your body. Searing agony entered your head until your sure it would explode. So intense was the torture that one wished for the sweet release of death to stop the torment.

"Four and Five will be escorting you as well."

This brought Nine's attention straight back to the Tsuchikage. The four of them were going on a mission together? That hasn't happened before. Usually it was only one of them on a mission, occasionally two if it was a tough one. Once they had reinforcements from another so the three of them were outside three village at once. This meant one thing.

This was really, _really, REALLY_ big.

"Who are the targets, and what was their last known location?" Nine said in full mission mode.

"The names of the individuals who took the scroll are unknown, but it has been confirmed they belong to a group called the Akatsuki. It is a group compiled of S-rank missing nin."

Nine waited for more information. How many there were, which villages they came from, the ultimate goal of the group, who their leader was, where they were based, what they intended to use the scroll for. The pause grew longer until Nine raised an eyebrow, prompting the little old man to speak.

"That is all that is known about the group," He said uncomfortably. "No one has ever been able to get close to them, the only reason we know of it is because one of our spies managed to bribe a councilman from the Leaf village after a meeting with the ex-Hokage and his pupil, Jiraiya of the Sannin,"

Nine couldn't help it, he laughed.

"You mean there's a village out there that is doing better than you?" he asked between gasps. The Tsuchikage growled, aware that while his village had might, it's information network was severely lacking compared to Konoha's. The new Hokage was cunning and ruthless, and it was all that Iwa could do to not bend to his rule. Eying the laughing blonde, the leader of Iwa decided he had allowed the blonde enough leniency for today. Biting his thumb, he swiped a trail of blood of a small kanji of the number nine that was on his wrist.

Nine's immediately stopped laughing. Biting his tongue do he wouldn't give the old man the satisfaction of hearing him cry out in pain. He knew he was pushing it, it was only a matter of time before he went that little bit to far. As he felt his nerve endings slowly being eroded by what felt like a slow burning acid, he was dimly aware of a small scroll hitting his back and footsteps retreating. A loud clang confirmed his thoughts that the rock leader had grown tired of watching him writhe in pain and had left, leaving the mission details here for him to go over.

'_Stupid old man, just you wait, I'm gonna get us all outta here_,' Nine thought viciously as the pain started to subside. Pulling himself into a sitting position gingerly, nine grabbed the scroll and started going through his objectives.

"Akatsuki huh? Might be fun to have a challenge, what do you think Kyuubi?"

* * *

So so, what do you think? ^^ I was stuck onto how i was going to move onwards from here, had many mant different starts then scrapped it the started again haha, anyways hope you enjoy!


	3. Ch 3: Plan Of a Hero

Beginning of a Hero

Somewhere in Stone Country

Ten shadowy figures stood in a circle. Each of their outlines was fuzzy, out of focus; as if they weren't really there and their image was but an illusion. Cold, vicious eyes stared from each of the images, each told of how merciless and cunning they were.

"They are coming."

"All of them it seems."

"The bait was effective."

"The old man is predictable."

"They did well to last this long against us."

"Keh heh heh, it's time to play is it?"

"We must no rush this; we must time our move perfectly."

"What's to plan? They come, we fight, they lose, we win, done."

"Think of the effect of letting them retrieve the bait."

"..."

"Their mental state would lessen and would make it easier for us to manipulate them."

"I don't care as long as we get to fight."

"It would ruin any loyalty they feel towards that village."

"Then it's settled, they will retrieve the bait before we capture them."

"Keh heh heh, agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed."

"Agreed, and remember to keep them alive..."

"Maimed is a form of living ain't it?

...

Unknown Location

Two figures, alone in a room. One was standing, the other bowing. The light had been extinguished, the only sign of light: the soft glow of the silence suppressor seals that hid in each corner of the room.

"They have been found sir." A monotone voice said.

"Where?" Another voice asked in cold, clipped tones.

"Sir. The entrance is hidden by a strong genjutsu that is located at the marketing district of the Uchiha clan."

"I didn't ask where the entrance was, I asked where they are located."

"...Sir. The room hasn't been able to be located due to our spies being unable to infiltrate the genjutsu."

And ominous silence descended upon the already quiet room.

"So your mission is a failure." The cold voice said shortly.

"... Yes, sir." The monotone voice replied, wavering slightly in fear.

"And when did I ever instruct you that failure was acceptable?"

The kneeling man didn't have time to answer, for as soon as the standing man had finished his sentence, a kunai buried itself deep in his throat. Choking on his own blood, the kneeling ninja fell to the ground, twitching ever so slightly before all traces of life left him. The standing man left the room, not even giving his dead subordinate a glace, a frown the only expression on his scarred face.

...

"My lord, are you sure this is wise?" A middle aged woman asked, gazing intently at her Tsuchikage. The small man was staring out of the window of his office, watching the shape of four people leave his village.

"Wise or not, it is the only option we have. The seal on the scroll should prevent them from reading it."

"But what of the people who took it? Akatsuki?"

"Their aim is to capture the tailed beasts. Yes I know. We were able to get that out of our Konoha source before he decided to stop helping us." The old man growled. The loss of their Leaf informant was large. Especially with the Leaf's new found ruthlessness. But they had a change of heart. Who would give out secrets of the village you were now running?

"And still you sent them?"

"Yes. It is a risk we will have to take. That is why the four of them are going together. The power they share between them could destroy half the world, a team of S ranking nins should be no problem."

"Sir… If I may…?" the woman asked hesitantly.

"You want to know what was in the scroll and why it is so important." The leader of Iwa guessed. The woman nodded shamefully. The Kage was silent before answering.

"It has the profiles and histories of our strongest weapons."

…

"Oh man this is great!" Nine yelled enthusiastically. He couldn't be happier at that moment. He was with his best friend, and the only two other people he cared about, outside of the village, running. One grinned at him. His red hair being pushed off his face by the wind, showing his pale skin and darkly outlined sea green eyes. Four and Five were behind them, enjoying the younger male's energy. If only they were that young again.

They had never experienced this kind of freedom before. Usually when they went on missions, they were surrounded by Anbu, as well as at least one person having the controlling seal on them to make sure they behaved. The Tsuchikage was indeed quite desperate if he sent them all out without any back up. They reveled in the feeling.

Usually they were kept to the rocky mountains that skirted the village, for their own safety they were told. On the few occasions they did descend from sparsely populated training grounds they called their home, it was easily understood. The second the villagers saw them, they were treated as pariahs. It was almost as if it was a custom to insult or slur them as they walked past. They had learned the hard way not to go off on your own when in the middle of the village. Four remembered when he and Five came down to the village for the first time when they were younger.

Five had wanted to look at the hot springs and Four had wanted to look at the blacksmith. They had agreed to split up and meet back at the base of their mountain in an hours' time. But, when Four had arrived at their meeting spot, Five wasn't there. He waited there until sunset, three hours after the meeting time. He was about to go looking for his friend when he was suddenly surrounded by the Iwa Anbu. Not allowing him to protest he was transported back to their holding place. It wasn't a home to them, not yet. When he arrived, what he saw there will forever be seared into his mind. Burns covered every inch of Five's skin. His right hand was the only thing that was bandaged. The bright white of the cotton clashing horribly with the red, angry burns. And as Four sat there with him through his pain, he watched as the burns healed themselves before his eyes. When Five awoke, no words needed to be spoken; they would never leave each other's side again.

Four had wild red hair pulled into a ponytail that defied gravity. A neatly trimmed beard and mustache that matched the color of his hair surrounded his face. His clothing was similar to a samurai's. His purple haori and three- quarter hakama were covered by light leather armor. On the skin that was not covered by his purple gi, black ninja clothing could be seen, marking him as one of the trained assassins. A plain metal band lay across the bridge of his nose and connected to a brown head protector was marked with the symbol of Iwagakure.

Five was the tallest of the quartet. He wore heavy looking, red plated armor. A matching red sugegasa hid his eyes from view as well as the majority of his face. His armor extended up his neck to cover the lower half of his face in a type of mask. Although the armor looked like hard metal, it clung to his skin and moved with a malleability that was not common with most metals. A black haori with the sleeves ripped off was worn over the top of the shiny metal plates. The right hand of the man was hidden within the cloth that covered his armor. What was most peculiar about this male was that he seemed to have a boiler that was leaking steam built into the heavy armor that covered him. As much as his outfit seemed to weigh, the man ran with the grace and balance of a dancer.

One was the smallest and skinniest of the group. A plain black shirt covered a fishnet undershirt with matching black pants. Instead of the customary ninja tool hip bag, he wore a sandy brown over-the-shoulder bag, secured to his body by numerous belts and buckles. Tied loosely around the bag was the hitai-ate that identified him as an Iwa shinobi. Strapped to his back by a sash the same color as his blood red hair was an enormous, sturdy gourd nearly as big as he was and twice as wide, but he ran as if it weighed nothing.

Nine stood out from his companions by outfit alone. Choosing to wear a tracksuit with three-quarter pants and thick fluffy collar, the bright orange color was a stark contrast to the red and black his friends seemed to favor. Whenever he was asked why he wore such an atrocious color, he replied he needed to give his enemies a chance, he wanted a challenge. A large scroll was attached to his back by a simple navy blue belt which matched the trimmings of his tracksuit. Around his forehead was a navy blue headband with the metal plate that marked him as another Iwa shinobi. But what was most remarkable about this boy was his bright blue eyes and spikey blonde hair. Few people in this day and age had blonde hair, not since the elimination of the village hidden in the Whirlpool, where the major clans had either blood red hair or bright blonde hair. It was especially out casted in Iwa since their greatest enemy, the Massacrer, was blonde.

But what the Iwa population thought of them meant nothing to them now. They were out. The old man gave them a mission together! Nine couldn't stop the laugh that bubbled up inside him; soon One, Four and Five had joined him in his mirth. The sun had set as they reached the border of the Land of Earth and Stone country; they slowed their pace and stopped for camp. Nine reached around and brought out the scroll strapped to his back.

"Ok, I've been working on it when I can and... I think it's finished." He said quietly. The others stopped their set up of their campsite and came to sit around the blonde.

"Are you sure Nine?" Four asked. Eagerness nearly overwhelming him. Nine nodded and opened the scroll. Notes upon notes were scrawled all over the page. Every nook and cranny was filled with Nine's writing.

"With the help of our biiju, this should be possible. The seal I made is used to expel any outside influence. Since we have the biiju in us, they will not be forced out, but the seal with the old man's chakra in it should be removed." Nine took a deep breath. "I'll go fi-"

"I will," the quite voice of One came. Nine stared at his best friend. One stared right back. "I have the weakest biiju out of all of us. If I am able to get rid of the seal then you know you will too."

"But One, it's going to hurt!" Nine protested. The length he went to save his friends no one would think that he held the chakra manifestation of hate. "Like worse than what the village ever did to us!"

"So you doing it would make it even better?!" One demanded. Nine seemed to shrink under that angry green gaze. Four and Five stood gave them some room, this was between them. They looked at each other and grinned, remembering all the times they fought like this, and the incident that made them never leave each other.

Four cast a sideways glance at his oldest friend, and the hand that had never healed. Five never spoke about what happened to his hand and he never showed it to anyone, it was always hidden, even to him. Since then two more joined their small group. When each of them was discovered they were sent to their holding facility on the mountain, so they could train to become the ultimate weapons.

Four was the first to be sent to the mountain. He was an infant then, taken almost immediately after he left his mother's womb. He was there for six years before Five turned up, fresh from the womb as well. The two grew up together for the next twenty years before two new infants arrived separated only by a day in arrival time. Nine and One. They were different to Four and Five as they had been born at least a few weeks before coming to the mountain. The blonde was the most precious of them all though, holding the most powerful of the demons. You see, the thing that they all had in common was they were all jinchuuriki. Human Sacrifices, containers for the tailed demons, the fearsome Biiju.

Four held the Yonbi no Sokou inside him, the Four-Tailed demon monkey. The Earth seal that had been placed on him was unfinished, letting some of the ape's characteristics through, such as his red hair and beard. Possessing Sokou allowed him to create his own style of ninjutsu, the Lava Style.

Five held the Gobi no Houkou, the Five-Tailed demon dolphin-horse. His sealing was done wrong though, allowing Houkou to control his dreams, showing him images of the demons choosing, but it could never do any physical harm. Controlling the Gobi, he created the Steam Style ninjutsu.

One, the young red head, held the Ichibi no Shukaku, the One-Tailed demon raccoon. Shukaku was a sand spirit. As such, One could control the sand as if it were another part of himself. The only drawback was that Shukaku was also sealed into him wrongly, insanity had tainted his biiju, and only by being in the presence of another biiju or jinchuuriki, did lucidity return. His biiju's condition forced One to become an insomniac, less his spirit take over his body and destroy everything in sight.

Nine though, was special. His seal was done by a fuuinjutsu master, a ninja that specialized in seals, and was perfect. The four elements seal was impeccable; there were no drawbacks to containing his demon like the others, apart from his whisker like scars that adorned his cheeks. Nine held the deadliest and most feared Biiju of them all, the Kyuubi no Yoko, the Nine Tailed demon Fox. The very essence of malice and hatred. But what was strange was that it didn't seem to affect him at all. All of the jinchuuriki adopted some aspect of the demon's personality. One had an incontrollable bloodlust when in battle, verging on insanity his Biiju had. Every full moon, Four would lose all sense of rationality and only listen to his primal instincts. Five was tricky, his demon controlled his dreams, and if you got close enough, the demon would control yours too. Nine though, had no suck drawbacks. The only time the Kyuubi's chakra leaked out was in states of heightened emotion, usually anger or sadness. Four shook his head of such thoughts and out his attention back on the argument.

"Well, no - but if I went first I would know how to modify it! Plus my seal is already way weaker than yours!" This was true. Although he had the same seal placed upon him that the others did, Nine had worn it down immensely. He was miserable at the easy, simple things that academy students could do, but give him an A-rank jutsu or higher? He'd have it down within a week. If he was a prodigy with ninjutsu, then he was already a master with seals. it was like the method of creating the complex designs coursed through his veins. Each line of chakra he molded became a way of tormenting his captors. His seals were so intricate that the Sealing Master of Iwa even had trouble controlling him. The different seals he layered over his own made it so only the Tsuchikage could torment him, the others that held the seal didn't have enough chakra to dominate his. This was why he spent the majority of his time in his cell. But at least it gave him more time to work on a plan to escape. Every time he tried to escape or fight back, it became that much harder to enforce the seal that bound him to Iwa.

"But I would still make an ideal first try. Your seal is weak, and with the help of the most powerful biiju, of course it would break. You need to use someone else. Me." One said calmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. With that, he pulled off his shirt, turned around and sat down, his heavily scarred back facing Nine. Nine turned to look at the older pair watching them, lost and confused. Four and Five just nodded. Sighing in resignation, the blonde boy went to work.

…

"As you all know, the Leaf has changed, and changed drastically. This is not the village my brother died to protect anymore. Danzo has corrupted the very beliefs the Leaf was founded on and has betrayed all the clans that swore allegiance to the First." Hardened blue eyes bored into the gazes that met his. It was wrong to place so much onto the shoulders of kids who had just become teenagers, but these were no longer children. They were adults, shinobi of the Leaf, and they now held its future in their hands.

"We are the only ones who can oppose the Hokage." Itachi Uchiha added, standing next to the blonde haired man. "But we must act now. This location has been compromised."

The gennin exchanged nervous looks with each other. They knew it would have happened sooner or later, but that didn't stop the fear coursing through them at the information.

"We have decided to split into teams. Each team will have a purpose and a primary mission. Understood?" The gennin all nodded silently.

"First will be Yamanaka, Nara and Akamichi. You are the most obvious because of your families as well as being out T&I team. Should we need to gather information, you'll be the team we need. For now you will stay with your clans and keep us informed of the ninja clans actions and moves. If you feel there is a threat to us or something important, Shikamaru will contact Kabuto via the system they designed with shadows and seals."

The three gennin named nodded and moved off to the side together. Their mission was pretty much what they had been doing in the first place. Their positions as heirs to their clans gave them valuable insight into the politics of the Leaf. Where everybody was in regards to the new system. Who was favored, who was out casted as well as all the meeting held within clans and the major clan meetings between them all. Plus being heirs also gave them access to parts of the Hokage Tower that average ninja couldn't get into.

"Next: Inuzuka, Aburame and the young Hyuuga. You will be our scouting team. Whenever we need to scan a place, infiltrate, spy on, you will be who we'll call. Your specific skill sets are perfect for this. Aburame will keep in contact with Kabuto using his bugs. They are the most subtle way as well as being untamperable."

The three nodded. They were glad they were together, each having formed close friendships during their academy days.

"The elder Hyuuga, Lee and TenTen will be out offensive squad. They will be out main attack force. Each of your attack skills complements each other. You'll have a short, middle and long range attacker and you have had more time to get comfortable working with each other since you are all a year older and all graduated at the same time."

The new team nodded. The only gennin left was Sasuke, who was scowling slightly. He was left out again. Even though he was a part of their secret rebellion, being an Uchiha ostracized him like nothing else. The Uchiha practically ran the village alongside Danzo. The police force had exploded with power and influence. Being known as the best and being able to back it gave the clan the highest standing in the new regime. Some of the group still didn't fully trust him, thinking him a spy for the Hokage. Itachi didn't need to worry about what the young people thought of him, he worked alongside Kabuto, doing secret missions and helping out in the hideout occasionally. Sasuke was left on his own more often than not. The other gennin weren't being mean on purpose, they just had their own groups, none with which Sasuke was a part of.

"Sasuke will work me Itachi and I," the blonde man said. Sasuke looked up in wonder. "We will be the all-round team. All of us are skilled in weapons, long and short range attacks as well as strategizing and infiltration. If you need backup we will be the team that is sent to you. None of the others. Be wary of other ninja impersonating you. Remember to use the code word and sentence if you're are doubtful."

Sasuke tuned out as Kabuto started describing the missions each of the others teams were to be doing. He was going to be working with the famous Black Flash! Brother of the Fourth Hokage! And Itachi! He was to be included and be useful! Pride and determination swelled within him. He would make them all proud. He would be an Uchiha who helped the village unlike his family.

A boom interrupted his thoughts. The underground room shook and rubble fell from the ceiling and the explosion tore at the entrance Sasuke had used to enter. Kabuto swore.

"They're here. Ok guys you know what to do, split into your teams. Leave using the other exits. Don't EVER come back to this place otherwise they'll get suspicious. Keep to your alibies and we'll see you at the arranged meeting time."

A scream came from the entrance. Itachi's traps had activated upon the intruders. Sasuke hurriedly followed his brother to the back of the room. Walking through a genjutsu that covered a hidden exist, Itachi turned. Running through the familiar seal of his family's jutsu, the room exploded into fire. Sasuke turned and watched as their only haven was turned to ashes before being pulled along by his brother.

…


	4. Ch 4: Escape Of A Hero

The Tsuchikage looked at the black mess that was his wrist. Each of the kanji tattoos' that were the anchor of the sealing done on his weapons had burnt away, eroding the flesh of his arm. His assistant fretted near-by but he ignored her. He would be lying if he said he didn't know it would come to this. The little monster had been constantly testing the leash of his owners. He had watched as the power of the blonde had steadily increased, surprising even him as to how strong he was becoming, how strong he would be when he had fully matured. The different seals he had been playing with, the struggle to keep him chained here, and now, it seemed, he had thrown off his and his little friend's chains and escaped.

The Tsuchikage grinned, and his assistant shrunk away from him. It was a smile full of malice. He would show the little demon. He admired the arrogance of the blonde, but it would ultimately be his downfall. He knew exactly what he would do, and he would counter with something that will tie his weapons to him forever. But in the mean-time, he would make the impetuous child suffer.

"Get me Kurai and prepare to travel. We're going to visit someone."

.*.*.

Nine awoke suddenly. The sun had set while he was unconscious and the cool wind was making him shiver. He winced as he pulled himself into a sitting position. Destroying the seal had been more difficult than he thought. The old man must have been alerted when the first seal was removed and then focused all his energies into stopping the others from following the way of the first.

He looked around, Four and Five were lying parallel next to him, both still out cold. Further searching revealed that One was nowhere to be seen. A hint of panic settled in his stomach. Someone must have moved them all as they were in a different clearing from when he performed the ritual, and there was no possible way that they could all have fallen unconscious in the neat way they were.

Nine gingerly got up, senses searching for anything within a certain distance. The sound of footsteps approaching came from the east. Nine relaxed.

One walked into the clearing. Nine could tell that pattern of footfalls from a crowd of a thousand. In One's pale hand was a trio of rabbits. Nine's stomach grumbled at the sight of the food. Grins broke out on both of their faces, and soon they were both laughing. Laughing with pure happiness at the freedom they now both felt. They didn't have to go back to that cesspit they called a village. Didn't have to endure the scorn of people that thought they were better than them. Didn't have to follow anyone's rules, didn't have to listen to anyone but themselves.

They were free.

Their laughter roused the other two newly freed shinobi. Wry amusement covered their faces as they observed the younger containers laughing in wild abandonment. They could feel the absence of the oppressive seal, and they too felt the overwhelming joy at being free. But decades of being a ninja had destroyed the ability to completely let themselves go. Four and Five contented themselves by watching the two youths enjoy the small amount of childish behavior, possibly the only time they will ever be able to. As the jubilation eased, they decided to camp the night in the calm clearing One had dragged them to.

Moving with practiced efficiency, but with a new bounce to their step, the four set up camp, and soon the smell of cooked rabbit wafted through the clearing. Dinner was a quiet affair, but the silence was comfortable.

As the others started clearing up the dishes, Nine sat still. Staring into the fire, he undid the knot at the back of his head of his hitai-ate. Without hesitating, he through the Iwa marked cloth into the flames and watched it burn. A moment later it was joined by three more. Silence enveloped them as they watched the symbol of so much of their misery, get devoured by the merciless fire.

It was One that stated what was all dwelling in the back of their minds.

"What do we do now?"

Nine grinned.

"What we were doing before. That scroll must have some serious info for the old man to have gotten this desperate. I say, we go find out what it is."

"He will be aware that we have broken free from his control, no doubt he'll be sending one of the armies to either retrieve us or the scroll," pointed out Four.

"Yeah, but we have a head-start, and we're the best. If we get this scroll, we can ransom it off to some foreign village and the money from that could set us up for life!"

"Why not use it as a bargaining tool to get accepted into a village? The Leaf would be strong enough to protect us from Iwa," Five suggested.

"No."

All eyes went to One. He explained, "If we went to another village, they would use us just like Iwa did. They would say we owe them for their protection, and would force us to swear loyalty to them. If we hide who we are, it would only be a matter of time before Iwa sends their army to get us back, and no village would be strong enough to hold up against Iwa, even without us. We do not need anyone's protection; we are strong enough on our own."

The camp was silent once again.

"I agree with One," Nine said after a while. "It would be nice to hang up our kunai, and let others protect us, but we can't count on anyone but us. Everyone has their price, and Iwa will spend anything to get us back. I say, we get the scroll and use it as blackmail for the old man to leave us alone. If he doesn't we'll sell it to the highest bidder. We'll make out own home somewhere, not in any of the five great countries, but somewhere we can live in peace."

"That'll take money." Four said. "If we're not going to sell the scroll we're going to have to make money somehow."

Nine and One grinned at each other. They'd talked about this before. "We'll become a mercenary group. It's what we're good at and there's none better than us." Nine said enthusiastically.

"And the old man has given us the way to make our names known," smugness radiated from One. Four and Five looked at each other with a growing sense of dread. Whenever these two plotted with each other and smiled like that, it meant trouble. Trouble that they usually have to dig the youngsters out of.

"As long as it's better than your diverting the river idea you had last spring."

Nine waved the concern away, 'Don't worry, this is _loads _better than that. And how was I supposed to know there was a mine there? If that hadn't been there it would have been fine. Anyway, mercenary groups gain infamy by deeds they've done right? People they've killed, jobs they've pulled off etc.?"

The group nodded.

"Well, what better way to make ourselves known then kicking the ass of an S-ranking missing-nin terrorist group that's in all the village's bingo books?"

Four and Five hung their heads in resignation.

.*.*.

Two weeks had gone by since the meeting room was discovered and destroyed. Sasuke thought he would explode from nerves. Every moment was one that meant they were still yet unknown to the Hokage, but it also meant another moment where the Hokage and his many allies could discover the rebellion. One slip from any of them and they were all dead. Treason was swiftly and harshly punished.

He lay awake at night, waiting for ANBU to burst through his window to assassinate him. He jumped at shadows and twitched at every movement made by someone else. Something had to happen soon. He hadn't heard from any of the other groups and Itachi had started to avoid him, so he wasn't able to ask any him anything either. Unable to sleep and not wanting to deal with the sudden pang of loneliness that was quickly becoming familiar, Sasuke threw himself into his training.

He filled every spare hour honing his skills. Kabuto had said that he was part of the back-up team, the all-rounder team, specializing in nothing and everything at the same time. This meant all of his skills had to be polished to the best they could be. Something he could not decide was either good or bad happened after he dedicated himself to his training.

His father started paying more attention to him.

When he sparred with his new jounin-sensei, a man Kabuto had recommended named Kakashi, he felt the eyes of the head of the Uchiha watching him. Every session he had with his new sensei, his father was there to observe. Even during Sasuke's solo training periods where he worked through various katas and honed his aim with his deadly-sharp shuriken, he could feel his father's gaze. Sasuke even caught him nodding approval during a particularly hard session with Kakashi. His sensei had cornered him in the courtyard, a trap had been sprung and was hurtling countless kunai at him, whilst the man himself had placed exploding tags around his escape route. He was about to be turned into a Sasuke-piñata. His only hope was to try and dodge the deadly weapons as they flew at him in no discernible pattern. His vision blurred from exhaustion. The spar had gone on for more than twenty minutes.

He didn't know what happened, but the thought of failing Kabuto filled his mind. Of his reluctant comrades who could die if he wasn't there to protect them. His gentle mother, being left in the cruel village. Of Itachi. Skilled, powerful Itachi who had played with him when he was younger, who had cleaned his wounds when he had hurt himself training, who had saved him countless times from the fury of their father.

He couldn't die here. He had to help Itachi.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins and his vision suddenly became razor sharp. He dodged to the left, avoiding the first volley, before ducking and rolling backwards, only to push off from his hands and back flip to avoid the next barrage. He didn't know how, but he could see how the kunai were clustered together, and the order they came in from the time they were set off. Utilizing the flexibility and strength that only years of training could accomplish, he ducked, dipped, dived and dodged all the kunai. Elated with the feeling of success, he grinned. He didn't know how he saw; only that he knew Kakashi had lazily thrown another kunai, only this one was aimed at the paper bombs on the floor. Jumping up, spinning around and crossing his arms in front of him, the blast knocked him to the other side of the courtyard.

The air whooshed out of him as he landed hard, rolling to lessen the damage, he lay on the ground panting. All feeling of success dashed as the pain, delayed by adrenaline, hit him. He could feel each stone as it jabbed into what seemed to be every soft spot on his body. He sat up slowly, expecting to see rage on his father's face at such a devastating defeat. He was shocked to see him nod in approval before he left the court-yard. Kakashi watched warily from the side-lines.

He expected to be filled with pride and a sense of accomplishment at the first time he was ever praised by the man. He had worked long and hard to get his father to pay him even the slightest bit of attention, and even harder still to turn that attention into something that wasn't disappointment and anger.

So why did the sudden approval fill him with mind-numbing fear?

.*.*.

"Hey, I think we should name ourselves." Instantly three pairs of eyes rested on him. Nine grinned ruefully and scratched the back of his head. "Well, it's just that, we're free, and we're people and we shouldn't be named as to how many tails our Biiju has, I mean, that just refers to them, you know? Like we're just the container's and don't even deserve a name. That's wrong." The silence was nearly suffocating. Nine scuffed his foot in the dirt, waiting for his friends to answer.

They had been hunting Akatsuki for near on three weeks and were getting close. Everywhere they stopped had something to say about the missing-nins. So much so, that the group of jinchuuriki felt insulted. They could be less obvious about the fact they were walking into a trap. It's not like if the information wasn't thrusted beneath their noses they wouldn't get it. They were pro's, and they were being treated like amateurs and it rubbed them the wrong way. It wasn't often that they came across someone so arrogant as to treat them this way, and those that did were quickly taught otherwise. Needless to say, they were quite eager to meet these Akatsuki people.

The very first village they had come across had tales of woe from the criminals that had pillaged them. Then that they all headed east. Following the trail of too many broken branches and too heavy footfalls, they came to a small inn that was actually called 'The Red Dawn'. Inspection of the inn led them to discover papers that lead to one of their hideouts, which had people who were all too willing to tell them where their masters were.

Nine almost broke something out of frustration. They had walked through the front door and the people instantly fell to their knees, begging for mercy and throwing locations, numbers and other information at them. HE was being treated like a child, and he decided he didn't like it.

"What name do you want?"

Nine was snapped out of his thoughts, "What?" Sea-green eyes gazed him calmly.

"What name do you want?" One asked again, used to his friend's quirks of getting lost in thought.

"I-I dunno. I just want one. What name do you think suits me?" he asked eagerly. Who better to name him, then his closest friends?

"How about… Sunshine?" Five said, with a straight face. Four wasn't so composed. Laughter erupted from him, his face matching his hair's color as he fought to breathe. Nine narrowed his eyes at them, and then turned to glare at One. A grin spread over the porcelain skin.

"Sunshine, I like it. How do you do, Sunshine?" Nine gaped as One bowed to him, the perfect image of a gentleman. Five couldn't help it anymore. He cracked. His mouth covered by material as it was, he could only guffaw, his metal armor straining as the big man tried to get air back into his lungs.

"I'm glad you're all amused," Nine hissed. "But I will _not _be calling myself Sunshine. I need an awesome name that instills fear and respect into people. A majestic name that women will swoon over and men will rally behind. A glorious name that –"

"We get it, we get it!" Four held his arms up in surrender. "You don't like Sunshine, we get it. If we called you Sunshine, may as well call One Sandy and Five Steam."

"And you Melty?" Nine grinned. "I like that, heya Melty!" he waved enthusiastically. "This is fun" he added as Four glared at him,

"I'll melt your face off in a second," he threatened.

"Excuse me while I shake in my sandals, Melty."

"Call me Melty one more time and-"

"And you'll what? Melt my face off? Not my pretty face!"

Four grinned evilly. "I'd never hurt your pretty face Sunshine."

"Don't you dare!"

"Sorry Sunshine, what was that? Sunshine doesn't like being called Sunshine? Oh poor Sunshine. Cheer up Sunshine. Look, the sun is shining Sunshine!"

Nine growled while Four crowed with laughter. "You're onto something there Sunshine, this _is _fun!"

"We'll need codenames as well," One added, interrupting what was most likely going to end in a brawl.

"Codenames?" Nine asked in confusion.

"He has a good point," Five spoke up, having been rendered immobile by laughter from watching One and Four. "We can give ourselves new names, but we'll need codenames to go by when we're on missions. Our new names should be ours. We'll give our codenames to the clientele."

"Why not those then?" One asked, wicked amusement sparkling in his eyes. Nine and Four felt dread settle in their stomachs.

"Yes they will work." Five agreed, rubbing his chin. "They're obvious enough that people will know they're fake but vague enough that no one will be able to tell our origins."

"Plus they have meaning to each of us, so we will react to them." One added.

"How the HELL does Sunshine have meaning to me?!" Nine demanded.

"'Coz you're all sunshine and lollipops," Four added. "Can't you tell? You have such a _bright _attitude. It's almost like the sun shines out your –"

"Quiet Melty, no one was talking to you."

"What was that Sunshine?

"Melty!"

"Sunshine!"

One and Five just looked on as the two ninjas acted like five year olds, both with wide grins on their faces.

…

Sasuke understood his feeling of fear a week after his spar with Kakashi. He understood the moment he looked up into his brother's scared face, once he stopped fighting the hand over his mouth. As Itachi moved off him, Sasuke glanced at his clock. It was ten past two in the morning; he fell asleep around one, his paranoid caused insomnia keeping him awake most of the night. He looked up to see the older Uchiha standing by the door, and standing by Sasuke's mission bag, which had been fully packed. A quick sweep of his eyes registered the fact that his brother was fully outfitted in his ANBU uniform, an identical backpack already slung over his shoulders.

Not asking the dozens of questions that jumped to his lips, he instantly understood two things. They needed to be quiet, and they needed to leave. Excitement bubbled inside him. Was he finally getting called on? Was he needed somewhere? Changing quicker than he realized he could, he grabbed the bag that Itachi had packed for him, knowing he couldn't pack it any better than Itachi could have, and silently followed his brother.

…

They left through one of the many secret entrances that tunneled underneath the Uchiha compound. Emerging from an inconspicuous door on the side of the main bridge that led to the Hokage tower, they hefted their bags more comfortably on their backs and set off. They hadn't spoken once, but Sasuke sensed urgency from his brother, and it made him nervous. Itachi was the strongest and most fearless person he knew. And he had seen the fear in his eyes when he had woken him that night. Sasuke's excitement turned into apprehension. Something serious was happening.

The streets were quiet; the only witnesses to their passing were the street cats and dogs that hunted for scraps in the alleys. They had crossed nearly half the village when Sasuke realized where they were heading.

His suspicions were confirmed when they met Kabuto at the west gate. His body was tense and coiled, ready to leap into action at any moment. His wild blonde hair was even wilder, looking as if he hadn't slept at all. He held no bag, but instead was armed to the teeth. His familiar body length sword was now in his hand. The naked blade gleamed maliciously in the moonlight. Kabuto nodded to Itachi as they approached and then looked at Sasuke. Sympathy and pity were in his gaze, Sasuke did not understand. The apprehension started turning to fear. Kabuto turned back to his brother, before Sasuke could voice any form of question.

"You know how to contact me, send reports monthly. If you can't make one, do it the day after at the same time. If after a week from the usual time I haven't heard from you, I'll be sending someone to find you."

Itachi nodded. "We'll head east and put as much distance between us as we can. I have the list of places and names. We'll see what we can do out here. I'm sorry but I will not leave him." Kabuto shook his head.

"I'm sorry it's come to this," true regret in the Namikaze's voice. Itachi turned to face Sasuke. His eyes were still scared, but it wasn't about himself. He was scared of something else.

"Sasuke –"From somewhere behind him, a quiet whoosh was heard, before the pain erupted in his shoulder. Crying out in surprise and agony , Sasuke gripped the kunai that had pierced his skin and fell to the ground in a crouch. It was embedded deeply into the back of his shoulder. He could feel the torn muscle. He could feel his blood starting to soak his shirt. He tried to yank the knife out only for his world to flash white then red. Blood flowed freely down his shirt, making his back sticky and wet. There were hooks on the kunai, making pulling it out a near impossible task, without destroying his shoulder in the process

He turned to see a man running at him, sword in a deadly arc, aiming straight for his neck. Sasuke couldn't move. Turning his head had made his vision swim and dizziness engulfed him. He noticed somewhat distantly that his blood was pooling at his feet in quite a large puddle. He frowned. A stab wound shouldn't bleed this much. He tried moving his shoulder only for large black spots to dance across his vision the instant he twitched a muscle. He felt nauseous, as more of his life gushed down his neck. The kunai had nicked an artery. He was bleeding to death. He was surprised at how calm he was about this revelation. He was dying.

He barely registered Itachi pulling on his arm, away from the village. Or the battle cry of Kabuto that would have shaken him to his bones, if the pain hadn't already shaken him. Sasuke looked to his brother, allowing him to half drag, half carry him away from the fighting. The fear was stronger in Itachi's eyes and Sasuke distantly understood. The fear was for him. Itachi was scared for his little brother. Darkness pulled at the edges of his vision, beckoning him to its depths. Losing the strength to hold his head up, he allowed it to roll down and hang limply from his neck. The darkness was stronger, racing across his sight, but it couldn't obscure the symbol on the attacking ninjas clothing. The symbol that was worn proudly by the people trying to end his life. The symbol that he wore proudly right at that moment.

His clan was trying to kill him.

They might have succeeded.

He surrendered to the darkness.


	5. Ch 5: Discovery Of A Hero

Itachi was panicking. It took a lot to make him show emotion, he was secretly proud of the control he had over his facial expressions. But the wound wouldn't stop bleeding. The blood just wouldn't stop, it just kept flowing. Sasuke had long passed out; from shock or blood loss he wasn't sure. His breathing had become shallow and he was paler than normal. The sounds of battle had long faded away behind him. Kabuto succeeded with the diversion, allowing them to escape.

The field dressing he had used to bind the stab wound was virtually useless, blood soaked through the bandages. He could feel it seeping into the back of his shirt, which means it had flowed around his armour. As Itachi felt the blood slowly spreading against his skin, he grew more and more desperate. He didn't dare remove the kunai. The hilt gave away what kind it was. He himself had a dozen on him. The hooks and jagged edges were made specifically to be difficult to remove. He needed a medic. But who could he trust with the life of his precious little brother?

Itachi dug out the list of people Kabuto had told him to contact. He would have to go to her first. She was the only one skilled and trustworthy enough for Sasuke. Lucky for him, Wave country was close, which meant the Hidden Whirlpool village was close. But he would have to be careful; the Uchiha would have sent hunter-nins after them.

A pang of sadness went through him. The Uchiha. He had already started thinking of them as something other than his family. He had always felt separate from his clan. Apart from them even at a young age. His father pushing him for excellence, his mother focusing on caring for the clan. When Sasuke came along, he was given something precious. He had someone to love and someone to protect. But protecting him became harder and harder with the new regime. He wanted Sasuke to have the childhood he never had. One filled with love and innocence.

When he joined the ANBU black-ops, even for his father's wishes, he found the family he never had. Kabuto gave him something he had unknowingly craved, acceptance and acknowledgment. He was one of the two main reasons he turned traitor to the Leaf. Kabuto and Sasuke…

Sasuke, he was the most important person in his life. To think of a world without him, it made him physically ill. He would do anything to make sure his little brother lived, and lived happily. No matter how foolish he was.

He burned the list, having memorized its contents. Holding his brother to his back a bit tighter, the now ex-Leaf ANBU set off through the forest.

…

"This is the place?" Nine asked, crouched behind a bush. Peering through the branches he observed the location their intel had directed them. They had travelled far from Iwagakure. Their search had taken them all over Stone country, through Bear country, across the border of the Land of Wind and into River country. Deciding to ignore the annoyingly obvious trail that their quarry had left for them to follow, they avoided going through Bird country and Rain country and cut straight to the end. They did not need unnecessary conflict, and Rain country was full of it.

Two weeks had gone by and they found themselves in one of the many valleys that ran through the small country of the Land of Rivers. The Village Hidden in the Valleys was located not far from where they were, meaning they had to avoid the look outs and sentries that were posted in various strategic positions throughout the country. A red tori gate stood in front what looked to be a cave covered by a gigantic boulder. A river ran through the area, covering the ground in water. Not knowing if the enemy had any sensor or water ninja with them, they waited on dry land.

"Yeah, there is a Five-Seal Barrier in place to protect the entrance." One said, crouched beside nine, his hand covering his left eye. Using his Third Eye jutsu, he was able to spy on the enemy base without them noticing their presence.

"They have someone with enough chakra to make one of those?" Nine asked, surprised. "The user has to connect their chakra to four different seals for the fifth one to create the barrier. And then maintain that chakra over a large distance for the barrier to remain stable. That's an S rank barrier jutsu; even Kurai couldn't pull one of them off."

"Stop admiring it and tell us how to deal with it, Sunshine." Four said, annoyance creeping into his voice. He was knelt on the other side of One.

"It's easy to deal with Melty. You have to remove each of the four surrounding seals at the same time, and then we destroy the object the fifth is attached to. My clones can take care of the four seals, which Sandy's Third Eye can find for us."

"So, what's the plan after we deal with the barrier?" Five asked his voice soft. "I assume since we have to destroy that boulder, normal stealth cannot apply."

"And they are expecting us, so this is obviously a trap. I imagine the Five-Seal Barrier is to separate us, divide and conquer tactics." One murmured, still monitoring the river. "And if they have members with large amounts of chakra like Sunshine said, they will be difficult to face in head on combat."

"All we know about them is that they are a group of rouge S class ninja from various backgrounds. We don't know numbers or names or skills or anything else about them. There could be fifty, there could be five. Man, I wish Stone had the same level of intel as the Leaf." Nine sighed wistfully.

"So what's the plan?"

"I say one of us goes in; lead them into thinking we spilt up to deal with the barrier. That way, they are more likely to reveal information about themselves if they have a sense of superiority. Then One will then start struggling, if the enemy has the usual bad guy complex, they will spill their ace and their plans and we can use that to our advantage. But we need to remember our main priority is the scroll. We need the blackmail material on the old man."

"So retreat once we achieve our primary goal?" Five inquired.

"No, secondary goal is the information on Akatsuki, and if possible, destruction of the group. Only retreat if we are outmatched and heavy injury is unavoidable." Nine replied.

"My, that is a mighty fine plan," An unknown voice spoke.

The jinchuuriki stilled for a fraction of a second, before leaping into a defensive position away from the location they were previously occupying. Weapons jumped into their hands as the ex-Iwa nins faced the intruder.

"Oh, that was pretty quick. This might not be so boring after all," The man said. He was huge, standing the same height at Five, easily over six feet. Nine was instantly reminded of a shark. His skin was blue-grey and his eyes were small and round, just like a predator. Open scars, could they be gills, were beneath his eyes. A hitai-ate on his forehead identified him as a Mist shinobi, though the slash running through the village symbol told the ex-Iwa ninja of his missing-nin status. The mystery ninja smiled, revealing sharp pointing teeth. Yep, definitely a shark.

But what worried Nine most was the fact that none of them sensed the guy. He glanced sidelong at One. He was still surveying the valley, yet this man was able to avoid detection completely. His cloak, black with red clouds, identified him as an Akatsuki. That meant he was an S-class criminal. But every Akatsuki attack detailed there was always more than one. Which meant his partner was hiding somewhere. But he couldn't sense him either. The only thing that felt off in his scan of the surroundings was something that felt like a large snake was watching them. There had been no sign of a snake being there when they arrived.

Nine spun around, facing the spot that interrupted nature's chakra pathways. Silence fell, only to be broken by dark laughter.

"Ku ku ku ku, you are talented, aren't you jinchuuriki-kun?" A smooth voice said that raised the hairs on the back of Nine's neck. A man stepped out from the foliage. He wore the same cloak that the shark-man had, but instead of looking like a shark, the man looked like a snake. His deathly pale skin shone unhealthily in the sun. Serpent-like eyes were surrounded by black and purple marking, imitating the patterns of the reptile. His hitai-ate identified him as a former Leaf-shinobi. His smile was predatory. The vibe of the man screamed sadist. This was a person who enjoyed watching others in pain.

"Manji formation," Nine muttered. Instantly the jinchuuriki each faced a different direction of the compass, entrusting their backs to their friends. Nine faced the snake man, whilst One faced the shark.

"Ohhhh, this might be fun after all," The shark man said gleefully. Bloodlust practically oozing from him. "Which one are you? One, four, five or nine?" One gripped his kunai tighter and released his Third Eye jutsu. If they even knew what tails they contained, and still only sent out two people, he was going to need all the chakra he could muster.

"Oh number nine is right here Kisame." The snake man grinned, eyes locking with Nine. "I'd know that face anywhere. You look just like your daddy, Kyuubi jinchuuriki-kun."

Nine didn't let his guard down, even though his mind was spinning. His father? These people knew who his father was? But more importantly, they knew which beast he contained? Which beasts they all contained?

"We're not here to discuss their parentage, Orochimaru." The shark man said, still smiling but a warning tone entering his voice. "They're here to steal from us after all."

"Steal from you? I believe we are just retrieving what was stolen from us," Four said, not moving his head an inch. The slightest movement would give their enemies an opening, and they were too well trained to do something that stupid.

"My, what bright red hair you have," the snake man, Orochimaru, commented to Four. "If I didn't know better I'd think you had Uzumaki blood in you. But fortunately I do know better, you must be Yonbi jinchuuriki-kun. All that lovely red hair, it almost looks like an ape's fur," The smile he wore sent shivers through Nine. The blonde's look of disgust didn't deter the creepy man though "And the walking boiler would be Gobi jinchuuriki-kun, as Ichibi jinchuuriki-kun has his daddy's eyes too."

"You talk too much," Kisame said to Orochimaru. "You know Leader hates when you talk too much."

"Oh but my dear Kisame-kun, what does a small chat matter when they will not be able to remember what we say once we capture them? Really, you worry about the silliest things," Orochimaru dismissed with a wave of his hand. The shark man's grin vanished as Orochimaru spoke. One noted this with interest.

_Tension_

The word was tapped on Nine's back in code. The sand tickled as it conveyed the message, but it was received none the less. The two people were obviously not used to working with each other; either that or they just didn't like each other enough to let it affect their work relationship. Missing nins were so unprofessional. But still, if it gave them a weakness, who was Nine to complain?

"You know my father?" Nine asked cautiously. He was proud of the control he had over his voice. It wavered just right with that smidgen hope whilst still sounding suspicious. He felt Four and Five stiffen at his sides. They exaggerated their movements, making it noticeable to the two Akatsuki members. Good, they knew what he was doing. One must've passed the message to both them and understood his plan. This is what teamwork was. Being able to understand your companions without needing to talk, and being able to know your role on how to help complete your mission, and they were the best team there was.

The snake man's grin widened at the sound of Nine's voice. He looked like a cat that had just caught a canary. Or more appropriately, a snake that just caught a rabbit.

"Oh yes, Kyuubi jinchuuriki-kun." Orochimaru cooed. "I know him personally in fact. Well, I suppose I should say I _knew _him personally. Past tense is required when speaking of the dead."

Naruto played his part with excellence. Allowing excitement to fill his face, before making it crumple with devastation. He even allowed his shoulders to slump slightly. Just slightly, he still held his battle ready pose. He wasn't so stupid as to allow his act to compromise them.

Orochimaru drank in his faked emotions with sadistic glee. Yep, he was definitely someone who enjoyed other's pain. These people were so easy to read, were they really S-class?

"Oh Kyuubi jinchuuriki-kun, don't look so sad. You are not the only one with a deceased parent. Why Ichibi jinchuuriki-kun's mother died giving birth to him." Although he couldn't see One's facial expression, Orochimaru did see the stiffening of his shoulders. Nine saw the satisfaction cross the disgusting man's had to strongly suppress the urge to grin.

"Orochimaru, I thought I told you to shut up. I hope you realise what you are doing by continually going against me." The shark man said, annoyance clear in his voice

"Relax Kisame-kun. What harm is there in them knowing that both of Yonbi jinchuuriki-kun's parents gave him up?" Divulged the talkative enemy. Four's face twitched visibly, but had less of a reaction than Nine or One. That was to be expected of the elder shinobi, the younger ones were meant to be inexperienced and gullible.

"What about Five?" Nine demanded loudly, falling into his part of the brash youth. Orochimaru looked confused before realization hit him.

"You are named after your beasts? Numbers are what define you? How… delicious." The snake man looked like he had just been given the greatest gift in the world. Not knowing he had just let slip vital information. If they did not know about their names, then that lead them to believe they had no information on them apart from their beasts and location.

Nine covered his triumphant smirk with an indignant outburst. "We are not just monsters! We are people too!"

"Orochimaru…" Kisame's voice had lost all signs of joviality and was pure warning.

"You should listen when your teammate tells you something Kisame." A bored voice commented. The two Akatsuki members froze. Nine felt sand against his back once again. Another man had appeared by the shark and was calmly walking towards them. One described the man as he approached.

_Height: Five point seven feet. Weight: Sixty kilos. Age: late thirties. Hitai-ate: Leaf. Prominent features: Two scars, right side of face. Dark hair and goatee. Hair styled in spiky ponytail. Dark eyes, intelligent looking. Pierced ears. Clothing: Akatsuki cloak, animal skin jacket underneath… Deer?_

"What are you doing here?" Orochimaru seethed. All his good humour gone as the new Akatsuki member approached. Nine's interest was piqued at Orochimaru's reaction to his supposed teammate. If the teamwork between the two that were first present was any indication, Akatsuki wasn't much of an organization. Something else must be banding them together. Or more likely, someone else.

"Leader sent me out here to make sure you do your job properly. For some reason he thought you would get carried away seeing who the targets were," The new Akatsuki said. Oh, oh, OH. Nine thought gleefully, but keeping his face in his overconfident youth persona. This new guy was some kind of stupid! So much for the intelligent looking eyes. What a wealth of information from two measly sentences.

"One! Who's the new guy? Another animal freak?" Nine yelled. They needed some presence in the conversation. If they were too quiet, the enemy might catch on to their acute observation.

"What a rude brat," Kisame grinned. He had relaxed once the other Akatsuki appeared. "I have dibs on the loud one."

"Oh no. I have the Kyuubi jinchuuriki-kun, Kisame-kun." Orochimaru insisted.

"I hope you both remember we are not killing them." The unnamed Akatsuki said. 'Capture is the aim of our mission."

"Well who are you going to take then?" Kisame asked. "By my count, we are one short of an even fight. If Orochimaru has the loud one, I want this one, his eyes are interesting." The shark man nodded at One.

"I'm not as strong as you two. I'll take the Nine Tails. The loudest are always the weakest. Kisame you can take two of them since you are the tailed beast with no tails. Orochimaru, you have the One Tail."

"And who put you in charge?" Orochimaru snarled. His face contorted with rage, transforming the unnaturally smooth skin into something gargoyle. Nine was fascinated, as well as a little scared. The man was leaking blood lust as strong as any he had ever felt.

"Leader did. Unless you want to fight us as well as the jinchuuriki, I suggest you follow along. Your disobedience will not be tolerated, Orochimaru," despite the hard words, the unknown man's voiced remained in that bored monotone. Making it sound like fighting was the last thing he was interested in.

"Well if we are done bickering amongst ourselves, may we begin? Samehada is getting quite impatient," Kisame smirked in anticipation.

"This is such a drag." The unknown one said. "Let's get this over with."

The Akatsuki stuck.

….

Itachi paced, thoughts running a hundred miles a minute.

More than likely the Hokage would have been informed of his escape, with the Uchiha having such strong ties with the ruler of the Hidden Leaf village it would have been almost immediate. Which means he would be marked as a missing-nin sometime soon, so that ruled out finding sanctuary in any of the main ninja villages when the Bingo books get updated. Knowing his clan, they would refuse to look weak, and tell the Hokage they had succeeded in assassinating Sasuke. So he would not be in the Bingo book, but his father would send his own hunter nin. That's two hostile parties after them, and they hadn't been on the run for a week yet. Plus with Sasuke's injury… Not a great start.

"He's sleeping." A voice interrupted. Itachi whirled to look into tired, brown eyes. "He'll be weak for a while due to blood loss, but he'll be fine. If you got here any later, he may have lost the use of his arm. The damage in his shoulder was quite serious, but with enough physical therapy and training, he will retain full use of it."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," Itachi bowed, hiding the tears that formed with his gracious bow. Tsunade wasn't fooled.

"It is ok to show emotion, young Uchiha. Though I must say, it is a refreshing difference to see one of your clan so humble." The woman said with dark humour. Itachi straightened and schooled his emotions. Tsunade smirked.

"A stubborn Uchiha till the end I see. Very well have it your way. But as a doctor, I recommend you find someone to show emotion to. Being a stoic brick wall isn't healthy. Stress can do some serious damage to your psyche. One day you might snap and end up killing your entire clan or something."

"I assure you, nothing that extreme would ever happen," he replied calmly.

"You never know, your clan has had it extreme moments," she said drily. Itachi decided to not respond, his attention caught by a low moaning coming from the next room. He left the woman and went to the other room.

There were only a few candles in the room, casting shadows over the prone form that was lying in the centre. Sasuke lay on a futon, his lower half covered by blankets and his upper half covered in bandages. Sweat covered his brow and he was shivering. His eyes, barely open, were darting around furtively.

Itachi stepped into the dim light and Sasuke's eyes zeroed in on him.

"Aniki!" Sasuke lurched up and Itachi hurried forward and put a strong hand on his little brother's uninjured shoulder. He gently forced him to lie back, murmuring reassurances. The young Uchiha had no strength and allowed himself to be put back onto the futon, but his eyes remained firmly on his brother.

"Aniki, what happened? Are you ok? Where are we? Where is Kabuto? What –" He was cut off as Itachi placed his finger against his lips. He stared up into his older brother's now very serious eyes.

"Sasuke, you need to calm down. Firstly, you were hit in the shoulder with a specially designed kunai. I am perfectly fine. We are in the Land of Waves Hidden Whirlpool village. Kabuto is fine and currently completing his mission. Secondly, if I was a genjutsu cast by an enemy shinobi, or Leaf interrogator, you would have just given them vital information if I had let you continue. Do you understand? Until you know all the facts, do not release any information that could put you in danger."

Sasuke's shoulders slumped and his eyes filled with realization and shame. Itachi sighed, his brother needed to realise that nothing was more important than his life, and he should do everything that ensured he continued to keep living. He sighed and gave into the strong urge that had been gnawing at his insides since he saw his little brother was alive and conscious.

Tsunade walked into the room and stared at a sight she never thought she'd see. Smiling to herself, she left and closed the door behind her. Everyone knew how the Uchiha prided themselves on their emotional control. And heck, she even liked the stoic youth who had brought his injured little brother to her. So she decided to leave the Uchiha siblings that were hugging each other fiercely alone. Looked as if the man had someone to express emotion too. She would only use the fact they were both sobbing when she needed black mail material.

…

Nine glared at the bored Akatsuki that stood a few feet away from him. He debated keeping up the loud, hot-headed persona, it was a great way to gather information. But information was not a priority, getting to the scroll was. And right now, the scar-faced man was in his way.

"I guess you're at a slight disadvantage, I know who you are but you don't know who I am." The bored man said. Nine narrowed his eyes. What was this guy up to? The sound of crunching leaves drew the jinchuuriki's attention to behind the Akatsuki member.

"There is no one within hearing range. Zetsu is observing Orochimaru, I assume due to his constant disobedience." Nine blinked as he beheld the glorious sight of a stag walking towards the scarred man. The magnificent beast's shoulder was at the same height as the man's head and where his antlers should have been was a crown of sharpened swords. Around his neck was a Leaf hitai-ate.

"You were louder than normal, Shika." The man commented.

"I thought it best to announce my approach. The fawn over there is so tightly strung that if I had not put in the effort to make noise, I would find a kunai flying towards me." The stag's voice was deep and calming. The man nodded.

"And where is Enma?"

"I am here, how else would you know for certain that the surrounding area was safe?" A gruff voice stated. Nine stiffened. He had not sensed anyone else in the area. The fact that he missed one, and possibly two if what the stag implied was correct, was alarming.

A giant monkey dropped down gracefully from above to stand next to the Akatsuki member. Its body and tail was covered by white fur that protruded from its sleeves and pants. The monkey had long white hair that reached down to his back and long sideburns and a goatee. It wore a black suit with mesh armour underneath, over which a sleeveless, kimono shirt with white, fur trimmings and markings reminiscent of tiger stripes on it was is held closed by a sash. On its head was another Leaf hitai-ate.

"Is he the one?" The monkey asked, nodding in Nine's direction

Two powerful summons. This man was not one to be taken lightly. Nine tensed, readying himself for whatever may come next.

"He is. Nine, I believe you are called?" It seemed a response was not expected as the Akatsuki kept on talking. "I shall introduce myself first. My name is Shikaku Nara, and I am a spy for the Hidden Leaf village."


	6. Ch 6: Struggle Of A Hero

It had been almost a month since the jinchuuriki had escaped. The Tsuchikage gazed at the small village thoughtfully. As far as they were from the more populated villages, he was sure to be recognised if he dare enter. No doubt there were protection wards and seals hidden in the land to alert the shinobi of intruders. No, he would not be able to go in person.  
"Kurai," he said to the empty air. Moments later a masked Iwa shinobi kneeled in front of him. Kurai was his secret. His leash to control the beasts. It was acquiring this man that elevated him to the position of Kage. He had been cautious in using him, too cautious. Now, he would release this man upon the Nations and show them the power of the Stone.

"Collect the woman. Alive. Kill the rest. Every man, woman and child. Raze this backwater village to the ground. Show them the power of Iwa"

"And the Leaf, sir?" Kurai asked. "They will not stay idle -" The Tsuchikage backhanded the kneeling ninja.

"It is not your place to question. Your duty is to obey the Stone, nothing more." He did not raise his voice, or even let anger enter his tone. He spoke as telling Kurai the sky was blue. He should have treated the jinchuuriki as such. He gave them too much freedom, and now they took advantage of his kindness and ran away. He would not make them same mistake with this weapon.

No doubt they would try to collect the scroll he had sent them after. It was a good move, use the information he so desperately wanted to keep hidden as blackmail. If the move wasn't against himself he would most certainly be proud. If it was any team but them, any scroll but that one. If – When they read the contents, they would most definitely attack their former home. He needed leverage. And leverage he would get. Reading the scroll will give them weaknesses, weaknesses he could and will exploit. Iwa will stand strong, the Stone would not crumble.

"My apologies Tsuchikage. It shall be done." Kurai vanished. Oonoki continued to watch the village. It was not long before the first scream reached his old ears, followed by explosions as fire jutsu were cast. The screams did not cease. Some ninja were trying valiantly to put out the raging infernos with water jutsu, but it was to no avail. The black flames of Amaterasu were not so easily put out.

The Tsuchikage watched with a smile as the Hidden Whirlpool village burned.

….

As strong as his urge to gape at the statement was, Nine kept his features schooled in a blank mask. What could this man, Shikaku, stand to gain from telling him he was a spy? Hope to unsettle him maybe? He was certainly confused, but not enough to lower his guard. Weighing his options, he decided to stay silent, his previous cover the loud youth discarded in favour of caution.

Shikaku watched him closely, Nine felt as if he were being examined. Not the studying of an enemy that was standard before a battle, more like he was being weighed against an expectation the man already had of him. Which was odd, he had never met someone from the Nara clan before. Even without identifying himself, the stag summons named him for who he was. Shika, the name literally meant deer. This was the boss summons of the deer contract. Shikaku was a play on it. The Nara liked their familiars. He couldn't place why Enma, the monkey king was here. From what he knew, that summon contract was held by the Sarutobi family, a prestigious clan from the Leaf. It was something that was common with the ninja from the land of fire, having their names come from their contracts.

Shikaku nodded, as if agreeing to what he was seeing. Nine didn't know what for, he hadn't so much as twitched a muscle. The summons regarded him with as much scrutiny as the Leaf shinobi. He itched to act, to break the silence that had fallen over the clearing. Distantly he could hear the sounds of battle from the direction his fellow jinchuuriki were. So it seems their adversaries had no issue with fighting, his must be the only conversationalist amongst them.

"You don't act without thinking, that is good. It will help you," Shikaku said finally. "You have your mother's face, I was worried you inherited her rashness as well." He still stared intently at Nine, scrutinising his reaction. Nine allowed no emotion to cross his face. Another reference to his parentage, from another ex-leaf shinobi. Were his parents actually leaf ninja? That was an interesting thought. He didn't think Konoha, the peace loving village, had the gonads to create a jinchuuriki, the Nine Tails no less, hatred incarnate.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, he was taking what this Akatsuki said for truth. He was allowing himself to consider what an enemy had to say. A stupid mistake. He stopped shaking his head suddenly and cursed. He had shown an opening to the ninja, he would take advantage. His muscled coiled, ready for the incoming attack.

It didn't come.

Shikaku was still staring at him with that questioning gaze. He hadn't moved an inch. His two summons had stayed put as well. Out of everything, that threw him the most and his control over his face slipped, allowing surprise to show, before being masked again. Shikaku smiled.

"You have been trained well in the shinobi arts, young one," Shika the stag commented, his majestic head nodding in approval. Enma grunted.

"While a staring contest is a great way to pass the time,I suggest we get on with it. Zetsu will not remain at the snake's battle for long."

Shikaku nodded and sighed, his shoulder's slouched. "This is such a drag. But the sooner it is over, the sooner I can go home. I wonder what Shikamaru has been getting up to lately?"

"Knowing the Naras', I'm guessing not much," Enma said with a chuckle.

"Not all of us are as energetic as the Sarutobi, Enma," sighed the stag.

Nine watched the exchange warily. They were very relaxed suddenly and the information they were giving out. Why he had just been told the name of a close relative of his enemy as well as confirmed that the holder of the monkey summons is still the Sarutobi. Shikaku noticed the suspicious gaze and sighed again. Very slowly and with exaggerated movement, he pulled a scroll out from his cloak. Nine tensed anyway. Shikaku threw the scroll into the middle of the clearing floor.

"That will confirm what I am about to tell you and more. Know that you are walking into a trap," Nine snorted, they knew that already. Shikaku raised a brow but continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "The scroll you have been sent to collect is a personnel record. Yours to be exact. And the others with you. Once you have read the information on it, the Akatsuki will take advantage of your distracted state and capture you. My purpose of infiltrating this organisation was to await the day they find you." He took a breath, the Nara hadn't talked this much in sometime.

"Why are you so interested in me?" Nine asked, confusion allowing the question to escape his mask.

"Because you are one of us, one of the Leaf and we never leave a comrade behind."

It was Nine's turn to raise an eyebrow. That was weak and he had to know it. One of them? He had spent his entire life in Iwa. Before he realised it, he was telling him the lie the Tsuchikage told him many years ago.

"My parent's were loyal Iwa shinobi, killed by the vile Massacrer during the last great war. The Nine Tails was sealed in me so I may defend what my family failed to do. I am Iwa's weapon, I am Iwa's shield. I am Nine."

Shikaku frowned. "You're loyalty to that village was expected, but they have outdone themselves with you conditioning. That sounded as recited as any monk saying prayers."

Nine smirked inside, he thought they were still Iwa shinobi. They weren't even wearing headbands, but he still assumed. Mistake number one for the spy.

"Shikaku!" Shika yelled and Enma disappeared in a poof of smoke. The warning came just as sand erupted from the ground and covered him.

"_Sabaku Soso" _One said, stepping out from the shadow of the tree line. Blood flowed freely from his temple and his left arm hung uselessly at his side. His clothes were bloody tatters and he was limping, but his sea green eyes were focused. One made a fist with his right hand, and the sand encasing Shikaku imploded.

A mighty bellow came from Shika as he charged One, rage showing in his gaze. One tried to dodge, but his leg gave out on him and he collapsed. He looked up just in time to see Nine standing before him, kunai held at the ready.

"Calm down Shika, losing your cool is really not like you," Shikaku dropped down from a branch, still as well and as whole as he was before. One grunted in frustration. "If you are here then that must mean you defeated Orochimaru. Not an easy feat, even if it was in our orders" Shikaku commented. One remained silent, glaring at the Akatsuki member. His sand writhed in agitation, betraying his stoic facade. "Which means Zetsu will be checking on us soon, a good thing Enma dispersed. We'll have to delay our return. The Hikage won't be pleased."

Hikage? Sun Shadow? Not Hokage? Nine glanced at One, he looked just as confused as he felt. There were plans involving them that they did not yet know of, that would have to change. A thump in front of him brought his attention back to the Leaf spy. A large scroll lay in between them, the seal of Iwagakure imprinted boldly across its surface. With a start Nine recognised the target of their mission, instantly suspicion overcame his shock. Nothing was ever this easy. One had the same distrusting look on his face. Shikaku sighed.

"Such a drag. That is the scroll you are after. We were commanded to fight, and lose. No doubt your other two friends will be here shortly. Zetsu, a man with the ability to track anything on land, will follow you to wherever you stop. He will not cease until he has located you and then the rest of Akatsuki will strike. Taking advantage of your undefended state. Trust me when I say Orochimaru and Kisame are not defeated as easily as you may believe."

Nine froze. He had rarely seen One as beat up and bloody as he was now. If the person he fought was holding back... they needed to regroup, reassess, plan again. But if this Zetsu guy was tracking them... anywhere on land...

Hooking an arm underneath One, Nine shunshined away. The scrolls tucked away safely in his pouch. They would go to the rendezvous point and then leave from there. Shikaku was unknown factor. His information could be false or it could be right, he needed to discuss with the others. One was a dead weight, hanging from his shoulder having passed out once they left the clearing. If the Akatsuki were not even using their full strength...

There were too many ifs for him to make any kind of decision or theory. They have the scroll, they must retreat.

…

Shikaku eyed the place where the Namikaze child once stood. He was the very image of Kushina and Minato. That talent combined with the Nine Tails... he would be a force to be reckoned with when he was older. As he was now, he would be a challenge, but he would be defeated by the Akatsuki. But that didn't concern him at the moment, what worried him was Iwa.

So they were the nation that had taken the boy. And from the looks of it, had also taken the son of the Kazekage too. It would definitely explain why they had been able to resist the Leaf and keep all their contracts. It would also explain why none of their spies had returned. Four jinchuurikis. That was a frightening thought. Danzo would kill for this information. He had been searching for him for thirteen years. Fortunately Shikaku didn't answer to the Hokage.

But they wore no hitai-ate, and no Iwa ninja came with them. They came alone. Deidara's spies had only been able to tell them that they were in the village. Kept separate from the populace. Maybe they were shunned? That would make it easier to talk them over to their side. But that rote the boy said, his parents were loyal Iwa shinobi. The lack of hitai-ate bothered him and he knew he wouldn't be able to rest until he knew why. He hated unanswered questions.

'What a drag." He sighed to the air.

"I see the Nine Tails has the scroll," a voice growled. Shikaku didn't bother to turn around. He knew the plant man was there when Shika pawed the ground with his hoof. Zetsu emerged from the trunk of a tree not fifty paces from him. Shikaku held back his unease at not being able to sense him, it what made Shika such a capable summon. The leader of the deer summons, the King of the forests, the White Stag. He remembered once asking the deer how he was able to sense Zetsu's presence, since he bonded so completely with the land. Apparently as much as he claimed to be a part of the earth, the earth did not see him as such. His conciousness felt like a cancer to the forest, and as the monarch he was able to feel the blight that plagued his domain.

"You do not appear to be injured, was the Nine-Tails that incapable?" The white half of Zetsu asked. The plant man was divided in two by the two shades that coloured him. His left half was black, the half with the raspy voice and a mean temper, where as his right side was white and significantly more even tempered than his other side. Other than the colours he had no other features to comment on. No scars, no eye colour, no shape to his face. It was like he was a silhouette, encased in the mouth of a Venus fly trap that hide the lower half of his body.

"Fighting is so troublesome. I told him I was a spy for the Leaf, that seemed to throw him off balance enough to accept the scroll from me. Plus it saved my energy should I need it when we go and recapture him."

"A spy? That's an... interesting thing to say,"

"If they know anything about Danzo, they wouldn't be surprised to find a spy. One hoping to claim the Kyuubi back for his village. Once he reads the scroll, he'll trust me enough for me to get past his guard. Fighting is so troublesome."

"I see you thought this through. Very smart."

"Fighting is so - " 

"Troublesome. Yes, yes, I got it. Come, Kisame has allowed the other two to escape, one may die soon though if we do not recapture them quickly."

…

Sasuke jerked awake at the sound of screaming. Pain flared in his shoulder as he tensed his muscles. Ignoring it, he reached for his weapon pouch that lay near his pillow. Just as he finished strapping it around his thigh, the door to his small room banged open and Itachi filled the frame. His eyes held the same fear for him as the night they fled Konoha. It felt like a life time ago but it had only been a few short weeks.

"You're awake, good. We must leave, the village is under attack." Itachi explained hurriedly, helping Sasuke to stand. His bags were already packed and stacked neatly at the door.

"Who are they?" Sasuke asked, blinking back the spots that appeared in his vision as he got up. His shoulder still hadn't healed properly. The blade had been coated in a toxin that had destroyed his immune system, opening up his body to infection. They had to cure him of the poison before his shoulder to get treated. There would always be a scar, and even Tsunade's medical ninjutsu could not heal what had been done to him

"Uchiha," Itachi replied quietly.

Sasuke's mouth went dry. They were being hunted. It wasn't a dream that he saw the Uchiha fan on the clothing of those who tried to kill him. His family wanted him gone. He so much of a failure that his father thought him better of dead. Crushing despair filled him, causing his knees to buckle. Itachi staggered under the sudden weight. He cast worried eyes over Sasuke and saw the self loathing. At that moment, Itachi hated the Uchiha with all his being.

"Are you two ready yet?!" A voice demanded. Tsunade walked into the room, anger on her pretty face. "Hurry up! I will not have you killed after I went through the effort of saving your life!" Sasuke forget the cold weight in his stomach as he watched,open mouthed as the Sannin whirled through the room like a one-woman tornado. Grabbing weapons, supplies and other things and throwing them in a bag held by a smiling man with long white hair. Sasuke started when he saw the man, not having seen him when Tsunade has entered the room. Although his face was smiling, his eyes were focused and cold. Ready for a battle. He was old. Lines crossed his face where the passage of time had marked him. He looked to be in his late forties, early fifties maybe. That meant he was strong. Only the best shinobi lived past forty. His attention was dragged away from examining the man when Itachi started pulling him towards the door.

"At the end of the hallway there will be a woman with red hair. She will guide you out and take you to the Land of Tea. We have a hidden base there Kabuto set up years ago. Dan and I will follow you when we are able. Take these." Tsunade thrust the bags she had been packing at them.

"I cannot carry these as well as my own and Sasuke's," Itachi replied coolly. Sasuke blushed in shame, with the condition he was in, he could barely carry his own weight let alone his pack. Tsunade snorted and pushed them out the door.

"Kushina, woman with red hair, will be able to help you. Now MOVE!"

Sasuke stumbled as he was herded out the door, the scream he heard earlier was now accompanied by many others. A chorus of pain and suffering. Distant booms made the building shake but he could only focus on Itachi's vice like grip on his arm, dragging him down the corridor. The rooms they passed were abandoned already, but soon Sasuke had let the scenery blur as he focused on his own feet. Weeks of inactivity had made him soft and he missed the balance he once had. He would have to train hard when he was fully healed.

Soon though, they stopped at the end of the hallway and Sasuke sucked in a deep breath. Standing in front of them was a beautiful woman with long red hair. She looked to be in her late twenties and she wore the standard jounin uniform of the Hidden Whirlpool. Her skin was pale and her eyes were violet. There was a deep sadness there, he realised as he looked at her, she was someone who had suffered greatly. At the moment, she was scowling, and at him.

"You're Tsuande's wards? Cursed woman! She knows I don't deal with children!" She raged. Itachi frowned.

"I assure you I am far from a child, and my otouto here has graduated, making him an adult." His monotone voice not betraying his annoyance. The woman glared.

"You... I can see from your eyes you've seen enough things to make you and adult. But the one you are dragging behind you looks barely thirteen!" She stopped suddenly, eyes going distant. "Thirteen... that would be his age..." she mumbled to herself. The sadness Sasuke saw deep in her gaze was instantly brought to the front, her eyes now windows of agony and loss. She shook herself slightly, and it was buried deep again. "You will keep up or you will be left behind," she snapped. Turning on her heel the woman strode down another corridor. Itachi's mouth was a pressed thin line, but he followed nonetheless.

They stumbled through a door and Sasuke was hit with the horror of what was happening. Black flames engulfed building, corpses littered the street, the fire catching on anything that happened to pass near by. The sound of battle could be heard over the screams. The air was thick with smoke and the smell of burnt flesh. That smell...

Sasuke bent over double and retched, throwing up everything that was in his stomach. It was the same smell as Gin. Suddenly the boy's face filled his vision. His eyes terrified, his scream of agony. Sasuke started shaking. Distantly he heard the woman cursing and then Itachi was there. His hands on either side of his face, forehead against his.

"It's ok otouto. You're ok. It wasn't your fault." The stream of comforting words flowed over Sasuke like a river. Washing away the guilt, the pain and the torment. Itachi wouldn't let Sasuke look at anything else except his stare. His endless black pools boring into his own. His face blurred and with shame Sasuke realised he was crying. Tears streaked down his face in an endless waterfall.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," over and over again he apologised. What for he couldn't say. For being too weak, for killing that boy, for failing their family, for being the cause of them running, for being a disappointment to the red haired woman... maybe for all of it. The little strength he had left him and he fell to the ground in a sobbing mess. He was not worthy of being called an Uchiha, he wasn't worthy of Itachi's care. He was worthless. Gin should be the one who lived, he should of died in the exam instead of him.

He wasn't aware he was speaking what he thought aloud until a slap forced him into silence. It was no where near as hard or brutal as the slaps he received from his father, but it subdued him into quiet. He looked and was surprised to see it was the woman who had raised her hand to his face. He gingerly touched the spot and looked at her in confusion.

"How dare you," she whispered, "How dare you!" her voice rose in anger and volume. "Wish you were dead, you selfish brat! Look at your brother! Look at how he cares. Imagine what it would do to him if you died! Did you ever think of that? Think of the suffering it would him others if you died?! How would he go on if you left?! Huh?!"

Sasuke continued to gaze at her in wonder. He was somehow sure he wasn't the target of the rant, but he felt every word like a blow. He turned to his aniki, his stricken face was enough to fill him with shame that would last the rest of his life. His brother had risked his life to save him, had left their family and their village all because he cared for him.

He felt like apologising all over again, but all that had gotten him was a slap in the face. Wiping his tears, he got up. When he removed his arm, his face was set with determination. He would not be the cause of pain for his brother. His brother who had sacrificed everything for him. He would live for his aniki. He would be strong for him. He wasn't an Uchiha, he was the brother of Itachi. Suddenly he was filled with strength, from where he did not know, but his resolve burned like a furnace in him, moving him onward.

The woman nodded in approval. She moved to their packs and bit her thumb. Running through some seals, she slammed her palm to the ground. Smoked poofed into existence and then faded to reveal a magnificent horse standing where she had summoned. Where its mane and tail were meant to be, tongues of flame danced. Her, for some reason Sasuke knew it was female, coat was a glowing white, purer than any light he knew of. Her hooves shined with silver. The horse bowed towards the woman.

"My lady," she nickered. The horse spoke Sasuke, thought dazedly. It voice was definitely feminine, as well as horsey sounding, but smooth and elegant. Thinking about it made him confused.

"This is Hayasa. She will carry your bags and both of you as well." The woman explained, whilst bending down again. Hayasa walked over to them and bowed.

"I am honoured to carry you," she said in that smooth horsey voice.

"Hayasa. Speed. A powerful name," Itachi commented and bowed in return, prompting Sasuke to do the same. It felt strange, bowing to a horse, but he supposed a summons isn't just any kind of horse. Another poof of smoke appeared, revealing another equine, this time it was a stallion. He tossed his head and nudged the red-haired woman fondly. His shoulder came to Itachi's head and his coat was even brighter than Hayasa's and his flames danced fiercer. His hooves were also coated in silver.

"This is Sokuryoku. Leader of the West Herd and one of the four horse lords. He will be my steed during this trip."

"Impressive to hold one of the four horse summon contracts. I heard they were very rare," observed Itachi politely. The stallion snorted.

"This foal knows nothing. Kushina is our one and only herd master. She hold all four of the contracts. The horse lords only answer to her,"

Itachi blinked, the only sign betraying his surprise. Sasuke gaped openly. He knew little of summons and their contracts, but what he did know what that a person rarely held more than one. O earn a summons you must prove yourself to the boss of the contract. The more powerful the summons, the harder it was to earn their respect. To have four, _four, _contracts, and all of them high ranking was unbelievable.

"Hush now, we must depart -" The woman cursed before jumping aside. The place where she was standing erupted in black fire. The two summons reared back and Itachi and Sasuke moved out of the way quickly, well Itachi helped Sasuke. What burst of inner strength he got earlier was not enough to overcome his wounds.

"How touching," a voice mocked them. A boy no older than Itachi walked towards them. He wore a jounin flak jacket and the hitai-ate of Iwa held back glossy, black hair. His skin was pale and his eyes red. Sasuke stared, he was an Uchiha. Not just any Uchiha, one with the mangekyo sharingan.

"Who are you?" Sasuke started. Itachi had a frown on his face. Surely his brother would recognise someone from the clan. He was an Anbu Captain, he knew every Uchiha in the village. "You are not from the Leaf."

Oh.

"How perceptive," the boy sneered. "What ever could have given you that idea? The fact I'm wearing a Stone headband? Or the fact I'm trying to kill you?" He then looked at them closer. "I must say, I didn't expect to find any Uchiha here, but that just makes this massacre more challenging. I do hate a boring slaughter."

A scream alerted him to the attack before it came. The red headed woman flew at the man, rage making her careless but vicious. She was a whirlwind, her taijutsu like none Sasuke had ever seen. The boy only took a few hits before knocking her back. Her two summons cantered to her side and shielded her from the enemy. He started laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Now this is more like it! Someone who knows how to have some fun!" His hands flew through seals and suddenly an inferno was hurtling towards the downed woman and horses. Before it reached them though, it dispersed suddenly, revealing Itachi standing before the group. His kodaichi drawn and prepared for attack. Sasuke looked to where he aniki was seconds ago, he didn't even feel the wind from his shunshin. The unknown boy grinned.

"You're in the way of my target. Don't worry, I won't kill her. She's the one I want alive. But that's ok, I have to kill you anyway. You and everyone else in this pathetic village. I may as well get that out the way."

Sasuke shuddered at the blood-lust that oozed from the boy. He actually enjoyed killing? Enjoyed this slaughter? But more importantly, he wasn't after them. He wasn't sent by their father. He wanted the woman.

"Tell me your name," Itachi said. His voice was still unruffled by the other boy. His temper still cool and his stance unwavering. The boy frowned at the lack of nervousness from Itachi. He hid his anger with a smile that cracked his otherwise handsome face.

"Good manners dictate you tell your own name first before asking one theirs," He told Itachi in a sing song voice. Itachi's face remained impassive. "But that's hardly necessary. Everybody who's anybody knows of the famous Itachi Uchiha. Prodigy of the clan, Anbu captain at just thirteen! Which means the runt with you bust be wee Sasuke. Beloved little brother of the great Uchiha heir!" the boy's smile was maniacal. " I will forgive you this once for your bad manners. You should know the name of the man who will be carving you up. Besides, we're family!"

The mangekyo swirled in his eyes, red and black blending together in a pattern Sasuke couldn't tell with the spinning. Mangekyo. He thought it was just a legend, a story his mother told him before bed. The most powerful weapon to be wielded by the Uchiha. The ultimate form of the sharingan.

"I know of no such filth in my family," Itachi said coolly. The boy's smile instantly turned to a snarl. His face a thundercloud.

"Filth? You're the filth! I have obtained power you pathetic Leaf nin could only dream of! I have accessed the gifts given to the Uchiha by the gods themselves!" He thundered. "I am Kurai! Son of Teyaki and Uruchi Uchiha! So _cousin, _prepare to die, for I am the greatest Uchiha! Greater than the pampered prince of the Leaf!"

Sasuke couldn't believe it. Teyaki and Uruchi were his aunt and uncle. Teyaki, his father's brother. He contented himself running a senbei shop in the Uchiha district, leaving the running of the clan to Fugaku. He never knew they had children, that he had cousins. He didn't even think Teyaki left the village.

"Uncle never had any children," Itachi dead panned, confirming what Sasuke was thinking. Surely he must be feeling the same disbelief he himself felt, but Itachi's face was as emotionless as before. Maybe even a little haughty, looking down on the boy who claimed to be their cousin. The boy smirked.

"There is a lot you do not know little prince. Alliances and deals made that they make without your royal permission. But enough such talk, it is time to -"

'Where is your brother?" Itachi asked sharply. Kurai froze. Sasuke was confused.

"What do you know of my brother?" Kurai demanded, his face once more transforming into an ugly mask of loathing.

"Every Uchiha who is born with the sharingan is born with a sibling of the same sex. It is genetic, it is the way the bloodline ensures you do not go blind once you awaken the mangekyo." Itachi explained patiently, as if educating a small child. Kurai's face twisted even further, his blood lust becoming stronger the more Itachi spoke. "You are wielding the mangekyo without regard for your sight, so it is sound to assume you have taken your brother's eyes as his own. So where is your brother?" Itachi demanded, anger finally seeping into his tone.

"You have no right to talk of him!"Kurai screamed. "No right! No right!" Kurai launched himself at Itachi, rage pushing him forward.

"Aniki!" Sasuke yelled, even a wild beast can do damage. They were unpredictable and dangerous. Itachi turned his attention from the oncoming ninja and smiled at him. Sasuke was speechless, his brother was never this careless! He had to do something, had to stop him, save Itachi -

Kurai slammed into an invisible barrier, inches from Itachi's unprotected body. The crazed Uchiha bounced back, startled, before spying Itachi's smile and attacking again with a snarl. His second attempt was no more effective than his first.

"You stall well for a child."

The red headed woman stepped out from behind the boy, her hands glowing with chakra. Her two summons stood either side of her, the Uchiha's packs already on Hayasa. The ground was covered in complex marks and signs. Sasuke had been so completely focused on the two Uchiha he had forgotten about her, as was the plan apparently. He didn't even notice when she took his bag. He scolded himself. If she wanted to do him harm, he would be dead. He should get so involved with a conversation he forget about his surroundings.

"This is an impressive barrier," observed Itachi, walking back over to Sasuke. The woman shrugged.

"It's a basic seven seal containment barrier. I'm surprised none of the others tried to use it. It doesn't take much concentration to maintain." She walked up to Kurai who was seething inside the seal. "Tell me who sent you after me," she commanded. Once again Sasuke realised that she was the aim of the attack. Not them. He was ashamed at the relief that coursed through him. It was short lived however, when Kurai smiled that twisted smile.

"Why Princess, that would be telling," he tutted. Wait, Princess?

"Lady Kushina is the heir to the Uzumaki clan, the rulers of this village. As well as being the widow of the Fourth Hokage, Otouto," Itachi murmured to him, noticing his stunned look. Princess? Wife of the Hokage? Her?

"She sure doesn't act like any princess I know of," Sasuke mumbled. Itachi looked amused.

"Know many figures of royalty do you?" He asked lightly. Sasuke blushed.

"Tell me why you attacked my village, or existing will be very painful for you," Kushina demanded. Kurai wasn't paying attention, he was looking around his cage.

"You know, I've lost count how many times I've been put in this thing since I arrived. You're all very rude, imprisoning a guest like this." Sasuke couldn't keep track of his moods. One minute he was mocking, then in a rage, then back to teasing. He was unpredictable, and worse, he was an unpredictable Uchiha. Sasuke couldn't name such an emotional Uchiha if he tried. Sure they were caring, but they were all reserved and took pride in their stoicness.

"Don't look in his eyes!"

Itachi's warning came too late. Kushina met Kurai's arrogant gaze with impassiveness, and screamed.

"NARUTO, NO!" Her voice cut through Sasuke like a blade. He had never heard such suffering and agony in two words. Kushina's eyes rolled back in her head and she fell. Sokuryoku reared and charged, screaming in rage. The fire in his mane roared and surrounded the raging animal. Kurai moved out the way just in time to save himself from being trampled. He threw a barrage of kunai at the stallion. Sokuryoku reared back again, deflecting the weapons with his silver hooves. He charged Kurai again, wind howling with him. A gust picked up and fanned the fire left in his wake, it circled the Iwa nin, trapping him as surely as thee barrier once did.

"Amaterasu,"

Black flames exploded outward, consuming everything it touched. It devoured even the flame of Sokuryoku. The stallion rushed to his mistress, so in haste he was he didn't see the blade that was aimed for him until it was too late. He screamed as his flank was pierced, before poofing back to where he was summoned from.

Hayasa neighed in protest as her herd leader was defeated, but she stayed near Sasuke as Itachi ran to meet the enemy. Her flank quivered with suppressed rage.

Itachi skidded to a halt ten paces away from the collapsed woman. The barrier stuttered before fading from existence. Kurai stepped lightly over what used to be the edge of his containment and stood over the unconscious princess.

"Ah,Tsukiyomi. Such a handy little jutsu. Reliving your nightmares for days in your mind and only seconds pass in the real world. Poor woman had so many to choose from too. What a choice I had to make too. Husband or son? Both lost to her within hours of each other. There's just something special about the bond between mother and child, I just couldn't resist. Lovers can be replaced, a child cannot." Kurai grinned. "I told you, I am the ultimate Uchiha, you cannot best me!"

"What did you do to her?" A voice growled. Sasuke was surprised to find it was his own. Hayasa whinnied with concern.

"Ooooh, the baby prince is mad." Sasuke was getting sick of his sneering voice. "Don't worry your precious head little one, she just saw her baby die in some fantastically imaginative ways. Seriously, you would be impressed. Babies bodies are so small, there's not much room to do anything really. Only so many knives with fill their bellies, but luckily there is more ways to torture a child than with physical pain." Sasuke wanted to reach out and punch the self satisfied smirk from his face. Only Hayasa stopped him from moving. The whites of her eyes showing and she was breathing hard. It looked as if she was fighting something in her mind. Perhaps the same urge to crush the boy in front of him he had.

"Do it Hayasa," Kushina commanded weakly, her head turned towards them. The mare stomped and shook her head in protest. Kurai looked down in interest. "Do as I command, or be marked as exile!"

Rearing back slightly, the summons charged. Kurai stepped into a stance as she approached, but it was for naught. Hayasa swerved and dipping her head low, threw Itachi onto her back. He bounced once before finding his balance and rode as if he had been born on horseback. The mare wheeled and cantered back to Sasuke. He had no time to protest as Itachi leaned down and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up behind him. Wrapping his arms around his brother, he tried for the same flowing gait Itachi had managed to gain. He failed, every stepped jarred him.

"My mistress has commanded me to take you away. Knowing she is in danger Sokuryoku will come with the whole herd to save her. He will run for days until he reaches her. Hold on tight foals, we run!" As she neighed the last word, full of defiance of her enemy she bunched her legs underneath her and the world around Sasuke faded into blur. He heard Kurai scream in frustration, but already the sound was far in the distance.

…

Kabuto paced the small room he was hidden in. Since aiding the Uchiha heirs escape, a bounty had been placed on his head forcing him to stay out of sight. Treason, he snorted. Betraying the Leaf and injuring loyal citizens. They weren't even trying to come up with a convincing lie, they just wanted him dead or under their control. But his infamy amongst the hierarchy of Konoha was not what was causing him worry.

Itachi was late with his update. He hadn't received anything since telling he was in Whirlpool and had found Tsunade and Kushina. Sasuke was alive, but barely and needed much time to recover. His report from Shikaku was not much more promising. Akatsuki had started to move. Iwa had four jinchuuriki.

One was his nephew.

Hope was a rich taste on his tongue. A sensation he hadn't felt since the night his foolish little brother sacrificed himself for this cesspit of a village. Ignoring the temptation of basking in the fleeting emotion, he focused on the assumptions Shikaku had written. They suspected him. Or they suspected one of them. They didn't reveal the jinchuuriki targets until they had already captured the scroll. The leader of the organisation claimed it was because they did not know the identities of the bijuu holders and so needed the information, but Shikaku was more perceptive than the average S-rank missing nin. The only one it seems that were trusted with the information was the plant man Zetsu. The ninja responsible for getting the scroll in the first place.

Four jinchuuriki, and one was his nephew.

No, he couldn't keep coming back to that. One of them was the son of the Kazekage, who was also kidnapped shortly after birth. It seems the Tsuchikage was becoming ambitious in his old age. Sand had all but folded after the loss of the youngest child of the Wind Shadow. With Iwa on one side, and Konoha on the other, their economy was crippled. The Village Hidden in the Sand was all but destroyed. Luckily, he still had his old contacts from the war. They would be eager to aid in a rebellion against the Leaf.

Four jinchuuriki, one was his nephew.

His gennin had remained undetected and had gleaned some valuable info. Even without his aid, the great ninja clans were set to leave and dissolve their oaths of loyalty to the Senju. He would have to get messages out to organise them. Many separate clans would be crushed. One united force would be unstoppable. His infiltration and tracking squad had found the headquarters of the Root ninja. His T&I team had interrogated certain nobles and discovered who was bribing who. And his attack squad had saved another seventeen gennin who would of died in training. All without being caught. This generation was one to be proud of. Or frightened of, depending on which side you chose.

One was his nephew.

He gave into the urge and allowed a smile to stretch across his face. His nephew was alive. The Namikaze name would live on. He wondered who he took after, Minato or Kushina? He hoped it was Kushina, that woman had fire. His otouto had skills, but was too diplomatic for Kabuto's liking. Fire would help him fight. Help him survive. He needed to figure out a way to talk to him. Get him to come with him. Not to Konoha, they would use him as they did his mother. No, he needed freedom from being a jinchuuriki, freedom to be a normal shinobi. He would take him to the Hikage. He would know what to do. But first,

Itachi. It had been over a week since the scheduled report date. He would have to go to him and find out what was wrong. Which means he needed to leave his rebellion to themselves. Someone would have to lead. Someone smart enough to manipulate everyone to do the right thing and not get caught, and ballsy enough to do what needed to be done. Smart and ballsy... Smart and ballsy...

The Black Flash grinned. It was a ballsy move and the kid was smart. Now it was time to see if Shikamaru took after his father.


End file.
